Four Minutes and Thirty Six Seconds
by MinaLovesMusic
Summary: Chapter 40: "You realize that you're dodging the question?" Lash looked back down at her and quirked his eyebrow. "What was the question again?" "Where do we stand, relationship-wise?"
1. Prologue

**M!na does not own Sky High. She only owns the character Marissa Bruttenholm and herself.**

**Pairings: Mainly LashOC and WarrenOC, with some hints of WillLayla, ZackMagenta, and EthanOC**

**Author's Note: The story is pretty boring at the start(at least in my opinion). It's mostly adventure and humor, but a lot of romance is thrown in as the story continues. Thus, is is placed as adventure and romance. And it has been rated M due to future content. So... yeah. **

* * *

_**Prologue**_

* * *

_I died once._

_And no, not emotionally or anything like that. No, I **literally** died. I was a freshman at Sky High, a school where the kids of super heroes went, or for kids with powers._

_They have this stupid 'Hero and Hero Support' placement thing, and I was stuck in sidekick because my power was 'stupid' as phrased by Coach Boomer._

_And if you have ever known anything about Sky High, you will have heard of Lash Livingston and Speed Markam. Lash and Speed aren't their real names, but it's the only thing anyone knows them by. Heck, I think the teachers don't even remember their real names._

_And you would know that tormenting 'sidekicks' is their favorite pastime. Unfortunately, as freshman, they couldn't exactly torment upper classmen. And for some reason, they saw me as an easy target._

_I was shy, and I rarely spoke. I always walked quickly and kind of hunched, as if bracing myself for some blow. Good idea, because there was __always an unexpected blow. Usually to my face or my legs._

_For the first few weeks my parents and older brother noticed the bruises. However, I would always insist that I was just clumsy, and that the halls were more crowded then one would expect. Of course, when I started walking through the front door with a black eye on occasion, they became even more worried. But still, I insisted that everything was alright._

_Lash and Speed did not discriminate on gender. They would shove me against lockers, shove me **in** lockers, they would dump the throw-up sand from the janitor's closet on my head, they would make fun of my frizzy blonde hair, my braces, my glasses with bifocals(look it up), and my 'chunky' body. They would do everything in their power to make me miserable. But those two jerks loved nothing more than to see me in physical pain._

_They would call me out in Save The Citizen, Sky High's favorite sport, and they would just beat me mercilessly, because I had a power that couldn't be used as an offensive. Heck, I couldn't even use it as a defense. But one day, they took it to far._

_I dodged a punch from Lash, which connected with my shoulder and dislocated it._

_I popped it back into place, tears still in my eyes._

_Immediately after that, Speed ran past and knocked me off of my feet. My fall was pretty nasty; it broke my ankle. In a desperate move, I tried to make a run for the citizen, but Lash wrapped his arms around me like a boa constrictor and threw me into a wall. The blow snapped my neck._

_Not 'broke', **snapped**._

_You know in some movies when one character grabs another character's head and then twists it, and it kills them instantly? That's what happened when my head hit that wall. _

_The last thing I saw was the timer at the top of the gym that counted up to 7:39._

_Next thing I knew, I was floating in this dark, empty space. I was scared, and lonely, and every part of my body hurt. I was cold, and I heard sobs of despair around me; I'm pretty sure it was mine. I was folded into the fetal position, with tears running down my eyes and my entire body shivering with fear, cold, and pain._

_But then I heard her voice. The voice of my best friend. Marissa. Marissa Bruttenholm. Marissa Elizabeth Bruttenholm. I don't know what she said, but as I heard her voice, I felt a small pushing at my back. Next thing I knew, I felt like I had been sucked into a vortex of light._

_I saw a gym timer that read 3:03._

_I was crying like a newborn baby when I realized that I was laying in the arms of my best friend, and we were still in the school gym. I lunged forward and locked my arms around her, clutching onto her as if I would be sucked into that dark, cold, lonely abyss if I let go. She held onto me the same way._

_Later, as I sat in a hospital bedroom with Marissa, my parents and brother, and two government agents, something replayed in my mind over and over again:_

_When I died, the timer said 7:39. When I was revived, the timer read 3:03. From seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds to three minutes and three seconds, **I had been dead**._

_I had been dead for exactly **four minutes and thirty-six seconds**._


	2. The Assignment

Disclaimer is in the Prologue!

* * *

_**Chapter One**_

* * *

A large computer screen lit up with pictures of two young men, identified as 'Lash' Livingston and 'Speed' Markam. A very gruff male voice broke through the silence of the dark room. "You're assignment? Keep an eye on these two. Make sure they don't do anything... they're lucky we let them off with probation."

"Oh, please, I think it's perfect!" A raspy female voice cut through the darkness. "Send them to a school where they _know_ that they aren't welcome. And you've got those ankle restraints on them-"

"We'll do it." The third voice was was another young woman; her tone was sharp and official, with no hint of apprehension whatsoever.

"...Huh?" The second voice held obvious confusion. Most likely just towards how quickly the previous statement had been made.

"I said that we'll do it."

"Agent, don't let personal issues get in the way-" A female voice on the opposite side of the room rang out.

"You know what I would do?" The first girl piped up.

"I'm sure that your plan is tame compared to what I want to do." The other girl mumbled, obviously angry about something.

"Alright, fine! The two of you will take this assignment. You know the layout of the location better than anyone else we have available... and you're probably the most well-equipped."

"So... who's gonna know?" the first girl's voice was heard, along with the screeching sound of a chair being pushed back and the the 'clunk' sound of feet resting on top of a table.

"All of the teachers in the building. Except your purpose is the only thing they will have any knowledge of."

"And that's all?" The more professional sounding of the two queried.

"Psh, I wonder if they'll ever figure us out?" The _less_ professional sounding girl used sarcasm with this statement. You could practically _hear_ her rolling her eyes.

"Zip it, Broom."

"What're you gonna do about it, _Bubbles_?"

"Girls, cut it out! The rest of the information will be in your room. Don't screw up."

"Thanks for the vote of support..." Yeah, guess who said it?

* * *

"Hello, you must be Emily Bates and Carrie Sloane?" Principal Powers greeted with a kind smile as the two young woman entered her office. She glanced at her secretary before closing the door and becoming suddenly serious.

"I hope that nothing goes wrong with your assignment," she stated, circling around her desk to her chair. After taking her seat, she turned to the woman sitting in the left chair.

"I hope so, too," she stated, flicking her short cotton-candy blue bangs out of her face, only for them to fall back into her ocean blue eyes. She crossed her jean clad legs and adjusted her short-sleeved gray t-shirt with black sleeves. She snapped a hair-tie off of her wrist and then lifted her arms to pull her, slightly less than shoulder-blade length, pale blonde hair back into a low ponytail. Principal Powers turned her gaze to the other girl.

"...What?" She asked, looking alarmed by the older woman's inquisitive gaze. Her limp, jet black hair reached to her lower back, and even created a slight veil around her face, her left eye the only one completely visible and the other one a mere shadow behind the thin wall of hair. However, her eyes were such a icy blue, you could practically see it shining through the black. She turned her gaze to the ceiling and fidgeted nervously, tugging at her fingerless leather gloves and the hem of her sleeveless blue-green t-shirt. She lifted herself out of her chair slightly to tug up her baggy dark gray pants, making Principal Powers lower her eyes to the two open folders on her desk.

"I have reviewed the files sent in by the agency, which have lists of your powers..." she paused and lifted her head, glancing at the dark-haired girl who bared her teeth, revealing a pair of sharp canines. She sighed and turned her eyes back to the papers. "Even if you didn't have proper powers, you would still be put in hero to keep an eye on the two of them. But then again, if you didn't have proper powers, I don't think they would have sent you here in the first place..." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, but Principal Powers didn't notice. Principal Powers stood up from her desk, grabbing two sheets of paper. "These will be your schedules." The two girls looked down at the papers that had been handed to them, and barely glanced over them before turning to each other and sharing 'a look'.

"Well!" The blonde girl stood up and smiled at Principal Powers, extending her hand. "It was nice to speak with you, Principal Powers, but now I think that it's time for us to continue to our classes."

"Don't you need to know your way around?" She asked, confusion showing on her face for only a split second before it was replaced with her usual 'I-am-calm-and-wise' expression.

"We studied the school map as soon as we had our assignment." The dark-haired girl stated, reaching down to pull her pants up again once more. She puffed out her lower lip, making a small bit of hair fly up. However, it just flopped back into her face. She reached down into her black messenger bag which she had dropped on the floor next to her seat when they entered Principal Powers' office, and pulled out a studded belt. Her companion shook her head and massaged her temples as her friend pulled up her shirt to push the belt through the loops on her pants.

"Well, we should really be going," she smiled apologetically at Principal Powers as she shouldered her own messenger bag and grabbed her dark-haired friend as they left her office.

* * *

Professor Medulla rolled his eyes as there was a knock at his classroom door. Class had started ten minutes before, and he was giving his 'senior lecture'.

"Enter!" The door opened and the two girls entered, the one with dark hair smirking fondly at the lab.

"Are you Professor Medulla?" The blonde girl asked innocently. He nodded his oversized head. "My name's Carrie Sloane, and this is my cousin Emily Bates. We're transfer students from the Canadian Academy for Future Superheroes? Principal Powers should have told you about us..." He nodded again.

"That she did! Well, please take your seats-" he spun around to look around the classroom. "Miss Bates, would you kindly take your seat beside Mister Markam?" 'Emily' frowned in disgust as soon as the guy in the back of the classroom raised his hand. She sighed and walked slowly with heavy feet, her black motorcycle boots clunking against the floor. "And Miss Sloane, please sit beside Mister Livingston," 'Carrie' also pretended to survey the room until the boy at one of the window seats smirked and raised his hand.

_'Dear Lord, give me strength...'_ both girls thought as their 'station-buddy' didn't bother hiding their head-to-toe checkout and perverted grins.


	3. Home

**_Chapter Two_**

* * *

"I cannot _believe_ those jerks!" Carrie snarled as she stomped away from the bus stop, with Emily following behind her. "How _dare _they speak to us that way? And do they think I'm _blind_ or something? Lash wouldn't stop staring at my boobs!" She snarled. Emily turned to look at Carrie's chest herself.

"Well, who can? Those things are _out there_," she told her friend. Carrie rolled her eyes and continued walking down the street. "Seriously, I get jealous whenever we go bra shopping!" Carrie rolled her eyes again and scoffed. "Besides, you said so yourself... it happens so much-"

"-That I've gotten over it and I don't care. I know! It's just that it's... it's... Lash!" She cried exasperatedly. Emily smiled at her friend and chuckled.

"You think he's hot." Carrie stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, the look in her eyes so vicious that chills ran down Emily's spine.

"I would never find myself attracted to a _murderer_," she hissed dangerously. She turned around and started walking again, Emily hesitating a second before hurrying to catch up.

About five minutes later, they approached a very large, bleak building with a ten-foot tall concrete wall surrounding it and iron gates. The driveway went through the gates, and you could see it splitting both ways to circle around the sides of the building. Any grass surrounding the building had no plants in sight, making the building appear all the more depressing. Beside the gates was a tall podium attached to the wall, with a plaque on it that read 'Maxville Research and Development Center'. Beneath the plaque was a small speaker with a black dot above it, most likely a camera, with another small speaker below it and a red button. Emily walked up to the podium and hit the button, putting her hand on her hip as she waited for a response.

A few seconds later there was a crackling sound from the larger speaker, and someone spoke through it.

"Name?"

"Marcus, it's three forty-five in the afternoon. You were specifically told that this was when I would be getting home. Now, open the damn gate!" There was a click and Carrie rolled her eyes.

"Why do you do that? He might not let us in." Emily snickered and leaned against the podium.

"Because I can rip down the gate. And if I do, then he should fear the consequences." Carrie shuddered.

"Good point." As she said this, the gates creaked and opened slowly. Emily smirked and hit the button again.

"Thank you, Marcus," she spoke into the smaller speaker before passing through the gates and towards the door. Once they were in the building and the doors were shut, they were standing in the middle of what could have passed as a ballroom, the floor tiles being set to picture a large sun. The only sign of life in the massive room was a security desk at the end with a discontented man with graying hair.

"Step into the circle," he told them, grudgingly. Emily and Carrie shared 'the look' Carrie stepping onto it and Emily jumping on after her.

"No need to tell us, my good man Marcus!" She called out as the ring around the circular portion of the sun started to turn, and the entire circle itself started lowering into the floor. As it slowly moved downward, they passed levels with windows that showed certain labs. One had two men in lab coats standing at separate stations, one mixing chemicals and the other looking at small cages and marking things on a clipboard. Below that, a window that was slightly frosted over, with what looked similar to the body room in a morgue.

There were three more levels before the platform finally stopped at the bottom floor, which was a circular space with a hallway across from the platform, and two more on each side. Emily smiled and ran across the circular space into the hallway directly across from them. Carrie chuckled and went down the hallway on her left instead.

* * *

"Mom!" A woman with crystal blue eyes jumped a little bit in surprise and sighed heavily looking at the ceiling and then turning to smile at her daughter.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Emily grinned and swept her mother into a hug, making her laugh. "Only your father has ever been this happy to see me!" Emily's smile disappeared and she looked around the room, an operating table right beside them with an agent standing on the opposite side and frowning as he wiped splotches of dark red blood off of the stainless-steel surface.

"Speaking of dad, where is he?"

"You just missed him," Emily looked up and smiled at the man who had paused his work to answer her question.

"Hey, John. How's the wife?" He blushed and Emily's mother laughed.

"We just found out yesterday that she's going to have a baby." She told her.

"Thanks, Liz. The father isn't allowed to talk about how he's going to have a baby," Emily snickered and Liz rolled her eyes.

"But, wait..." Emily paused for a second and looked confused. "Mariel is a Kiloren, which is a type of faerie, right?" Liz and John nodded. "Don't they have babies in, like, three months instead of nine?" The two adults shared a nervous look.

"That's what we're worried about," he sighed, slumping down on the, now clean, table. "A human and a kiloren have never mated before. Never. We have no idea what could happen." Emily did not lose her puzzled expression.

"And don't they age about five times faster than humans, and then when they look about twenty years old they start aging five times _slower_ than humans?" The two adults winced. "Yeah, that's right! Mariel is, like, five or six years old, right?" John sighed and closed his eyes, and Liz looked up at the ceiling again. "Well, whatever! I guess I should head to the library and have 'girl-time'."

"You mean, 'deep-meaningful-discussion' time with Abe," Liz smirked and shook her head.

"Please... when I'm around, who listens to Abe?" Liz and John both rolled their eyes as Emily turned and walked out of the lab.

* * *

Yeah... pretty much a filler chapter...


	4. Issues

_**Chapter Three**_

* * *

"But what about the existence of the soul? How else could each person have a personality that is completely unique and all their own?"

"Hm... You're doing well with your argument development, Grasshopper."

"Abe, since when do you watch Karate Kid?"

"Since I first shook hands with you. Apparently, you have fond memories of that movie."

"...Abe, is there anything you _don't_ know about me?"

"Well..." A heavy sigh passed Carrie's lips as she sank into the large armchair that had been placed in front of the enormous fish tank, a bookstand on each side of it, although they were sitting much closer to the glass, where the blue-skinned fish-man was floating, with his webbed, suction-cupped hands pressed against the clear surface separating his tank from the large library. "I'm sorry, Indigo Child. Would you like to move on to music history?" Carrie gasped in joy and shot up in her seat, her grin spread across her face and her ocean blue eyes lighting up with joy.

"Of course! Now, I'm pretty sure we left off at the start of the fifties. The emergence of jazz?"

"Correct. Now-"

"Wazzup, ma peeps!" Emily yelled, striding in through the mahogany doors with a large grin. Carrie sighed and smiled faintly, whilst Abe simply blinked his eyes and swam to the opposite side of his tank. Carrie stood up from her seat and walked over to a small table at the side of Abe's tank filled with rotten eggs and used a pair of tongs sitting beside it to grab on egg and drop it into a tube, which she then closed and hit a button beside it, launching the egg into Abe's tank. He practically turned into a blur as he swam and seized the egg, practically swallowing it whole.

"It's called chewing, Abe."

"I apologize."

"Aw, c'mon! You guys don't want the company of little ol' me?" Emily grinned and walked over, flipping the pages of the books sitting on the bookstands before Carrie had the chance.

"Mimi, we were having a serious discussion?" Emily stared blankly at her.

"Hm, I recognize that expression," Abe swam up to the glass window and pressed his hands against it, looking at Emily. "You're father always had that same look whenever he listened to any conversations between myself and your grandfather." Abe hesitated when he saw the hurt flash through her eyes. She turned to Carrie and smiled.

"I'll be in our rooms," she didn't pause to hear Carrie's goodbye, instead turning on her heel and rushing out of the room. There was silence for a few moments before Carrie suddenly donned an expression of anger and turned to glare at Abe through the window.

"Abe, if you were out here, I would slap you!"

"I am truly and deeply sorry. I have never seen it hurt so much," Carrie sighed and turned her gaze to the ground.

"I think now that we're back at Sky High, she's reminded of what she is... of who she is..." she hesitated for a few more seconds. "Of what happened..." Abe floated in his tank, watching Carrie as she stared at the door and then sighed. "Abe, I'm sorry but I want to get a headstart on the homework."

"You shook hands with your teachers?"

"..."

* * *

"Broomie-"

"Don't worry." Emily sat on the couch and stared at the TV screen in front of her. "It's not like there's anything you can do." Carrie stood at the door and looked around at the setting.

As agents for 'The Agency', they had actually set up something of an apartment for the two, so that they could "have their independence". Since they were (close to being) legal adults, it only seemed appropriate. It was simple, A living room that was attached to a small kitchen, an open doorway leading into it with a small bar style also in the living room, a portion of wall cut out to open said bar to the kitchen. The kitchen was regular necessities for cooking: a refrigerator, microwave, oven, and a few other regular kitchen things. There was a small closet door opposite from the kitchen doorframe where there was most likely dry foods and cleaning supplies. A very short hallway passed the kitchen doorway, with three doors. One at the end that opened to show a bathroom, and the other two doors on opposite sides from each other, most likely their bedrooms.

Carrie paused at the bar space, seating herself on one of the chairs. "Maybe... You wanna talk about it?" Emily hunched over and put her elbows on her knees, folding her hands together and resting them against her forehead. She was silent for a moment, then reaching forward to grab the remote off of the coffee table separating her from the TV, and pushed the little red button that made the screen turn black.

"No..." she whispered, standing and turning to circle around the couch and walk to the doorway on the left wall of the short hallway. "No, I don't want to talk about it." Carrie looked across the kitchen towards the opposite wall, closing her eyes and lowering her head as she heard the door to Emily's room open and then a silent click, signaling that it had been shut. Then a smaller click.

A sign that Emily had locked it.

* * *

Emily sat on her bed, her back hunched and her face buried in her hands. She sat like that, closing her eyes into her palms. She sat like that for a little while, opening them when she saw the small clock at the bottom right of her computer reading 7:03. She sighed dropped her arms, resting them on her knees and lowering her head.

She had been sitting with her head in her hands for two hours and eighteen minutes. She continued to sit on her bed, her fingers still laced together, her arms on her knees and her back hunched so that she could remain in that position. She blinked and stared at a small necklace that had been wrapped many times until it could be worn around her right wrist. She stared at the small wooden beads, and the tiny wooden cross hanging from it. She moved her hands and closed her left hand around it, closing her eyes and whispering one word into the silence of her dark room.

"_Daddy..._"

Outside of her room, Carrie had left hers to go to the bathroom and could sense her friends despair. She pressed her palm against the door, her powers alerting her to the strength of that sadness. Her eyes reflected sympathy for her friend, but she removed her hand and continued to the bathroom. After she stepped out of the shower ten minutes later and dressed in her pajamas, she sank onto her bed and buried her face in her hands.

_'I wish I could help you...'_ she thought, but restraining herself from projecting those thoughts into her best-friend's mind.


	5. Second Morning

_**Chapter Four**_

* * *

"Hey..." Emily yawned walking out of her room and into the kitchen, brushing off the hyperactive grin radiating from Carrie's face.

"Second day of school!" She sang, dumping her dirty dishes in the sink. Emily glared at her.

"How are you so cheerful?" Carrie stopped in mid-dance and stared at her friend with a blank expression.

"We've known each other for years and you still keep forgetting that I'm a morning person?" Emily glared at her and sighed, circling through the doorway and seating herself at the bar.

"I'm not a morning person. I am a creature of the night." Carrie snorted and rolled her eyes, dancing around their small living room to flop down on the couch.

"Well, 'creature of the night', you'd better hurry up and get ready for school. The bus shows up at seven-thirty, and it's six-fifty now!"

"Would you please enlighten me as to why you wake up this early?"

"I've told you before," she said, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

"It's too early-" she stopped in mid-sentence and sighed, a music video for Anberlin playing. "Ah." Carrie was a music video whore, and she would wake up early just to watch the few channels that played music videos in the morning. MTV2, Vh1... and her two absolute favorites:

Fuse and Gospel Music Channel.

Emily scarfed the last of her breakfast and disappeared into her room, only to emerge two seconds later with some clothes in her hands. She then disappeared into the bathroom. A shower could be heard turning on, and then turned off ten minutes later. For ten minutes there was silence, and then she emerged, fully clothed and dry. She had donned a red t-shirt with black words that read 'I have multiple personalities, and none of them like you', and a pair of black and orange Tripps pants, with the bottom half that had separated it with zippers taken off, transforming them into cargo shorts.

Carrie turned to see her and glared.

"That's unfair."

"What?"

"You used your powers to dry. I have to wake up at six to shower and dry my hair, and then I have to straighten it as soon as your done!" Emily smirked.

"Yeah, I'm lucky. I have fantastic hair that would dry faster than yours, even if I didn't use my powers." Carrie glared and Emily pointed to the digital clock at the corner of the bar. "Seven-fifteen. You have five minutes to fully straighten your hair." There was about a two-second silence, then Carrie jumped over the couch and smiled at Emily.

"Mimi, could you straighten my hair?" Emily opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Carrie did something that always got her to say yes. You would think it was a power since it worked about 99 of the time, but it wasn't.

She pulled **_the puppy-dog pout_**.

Only two people had been able to resist the power of her cuteness when she did that: Abe and...

"Alright, fine! I'll straighten your hair!" Carrie giggled and clapped, encouraging Emily to smile and roll her eyes, following her friend into the bathroom.

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were rushing out to the bus stop, out of breath when they arrived and collapsed against the sign.

"You know the bus doesn't show up for another five minutes, right?" the two friends turned to stare at a very petite girl, dressed head-to-toe in either light blue denim, or silver and white. Her hair was such a pale blonde, it appeared white, and her skin was also incredibly pale, all of the paleness contrasting sharply with her jet black eyes. Observing her appearance, Emily decided to look at Carrie's outfit of the day.

She was wearing-surprise, surprise-a pair of light blue denim jeans, except they were ripped up around the ankles and knees, and covered in stains of neon paint. Her t-shirt was light green and fitted her form well, a cartoon picture of a little boy hugging a tree, black words above it reading 'Don't Just Hug A Tree, Plant One!'. The shirt was kind of sheer, so you could see her wearing a tank top underneath it-thank God, or else you would be able to see her bra-that was tucked into her pants in case the shirt rode up and her pants fell down, despite her rainbow studded belt.

"This one," Emily started, jerking her thumb at Carrie. "-Is a stickler about punctuality. She would throw a _fit_ if we aren't at least five minutes early." Carrie grinned.

"And I get anxious if anybody else is late!" Emily rolled her eyes and the girl giggled.

"Cool. Anyway, it's nice to meet you guys! My name's Francine, but I insist that everybody call me Frankie," she stuck out her hand and grinned, showing off a dazzling white smile.

"Nice to meet you, Frankie! I'm Carrie, and this is Emily," Carrie reached out and shook hands with her, and Emily did the same.

"So, I've never seen you two before..." Frankie started, eying the two of them. Carrie smiled.

"We're transfer students."

"Really? From where?"

"Canadian Academy for Future Superheroes," Emily stated. She smiled and nodded.

"Cool! I've heard about them... isn't it really hard to get in there?" Carrie groaned and looked up at the sky and then lowered her head to look at her.

"Extremely! And all of the work is _piled_ on! We're lucky that my aunt, Emily's mom, was transferred here. We're betting things will be a lot easier here." Frankie groaned and rolled her eyes in the same fashion as Carrie had done earlier.

"I doubt that. Just hope that you don't have Medulla. He will _kill_ you." Carrie looked surprised and Emily fought back a snicker.

"Really? How?" Frankie groaned and winced.

"He piles the work _all_ the time! And if you don't get anything done, he'll give you a makeup assignment that's _ten times_ harder! And if you screw up, then he always gives you a really low D instead of an F because he doesn't want to see you in summer school." Emily snort-laughed, obviously mocking and turned to grin at her.

"Please! At our old school, we had this one professor who would do the same thing! Except he wouldn't hesitate to fail you if you screwed up. The school didn't have summer school. If you failed, you were kicked out. And makeup assignments? Please! He would give you classwork that was hard, and that makeup work your talking about? Homework." Frankie stared in shock and then shuddered.

"Wow..."

"Yeah. And he was one of the _easy_ teachers." Frankie turned to stare at Carrie in shock.

"You're kidding."

"Nope." She shuddered again. There was a few moments of silence before Carrie grinned and clapped her hands. "Now, onto a lighter subject. What grade are you in?" Frankie smiled.

"Sophomore." Emily smiled and nodded.

"Ah, yes. No longer a freshman..."

"And thank God!" Frankie sighed with relief and shook her head. "First semester last year was _brutal_." Emily's ear actually twitched and she turned to look at the much shorter girl out of the corner of her eye.

"How so?"

"I nearly got killed at homecoming!" She blurted out, Carrie suddenly gasping in surprise and grinning.

"I heard about that! Something about that old supervillain turning everybody into babies?" Frankie appeared puzzled.

"How did you guys hear about that?" Emily grinned and swung around the pole, the sign at the top rattling a little bit due to the motion.

"Word travels fast. One of our teachers actually teamed up with Coach Boomer when he was still a hero. Told us the entire story." She grinned. "Sky High is pretty popular now."

"Wow..." Frankie drifted off, her eyes wide. "That's kind of cool." Carrie nodded while Emily continued to stare into the sky.

"Yeah, I guess it is," she smiled and shrugged, Emily then lifting her hand to her forehead so that she could squint into the distant sky.

"The bus is here." Frankie appeared puzzled as she also looked and squinted into the sky and saw nothing for a few seconds.

"Wha-oh!" her mouth formed a small 'o' as the bus appeared in the distance and slowly descended and slowed to a stop directly in front of them. "Cool!" Emily grinned.

"It's a gift."

"Yeah, staring into the sun without going blind..."

"Shut up."

"Well, it was cool talking to you guys!" Frankie said to them as she continued walking down the aisle and the two of them slid into a seat that was closer to the front.

* * *

_So, they girls made a new friend! Now, where is **Frankie** going to come into the story later? I don't just introduce random OC's for no reason!_


	6. Why?

_**Chapter Five**_

* * *

"I missed the bus rides," Carrie smiled walking into the school with Emily beside her.

"Yeah. You hated school, but you loved the bus rides."

"Yeah, memo to all roller-coaster junkies: Just get superpowers and enroll at Sky High!" The two friends laughed and continued chatting until the reached their lockers. Yes, Principal Powers put them together for the sake of their 'mission'. However, as Carrie was opening her locker, a hand appeared on the front of it and slammed it shut before she could get any of her things. "Hey!"

"Sorry, sweetheart," Emily looked over and saw Lash approached, removing his hand as he got closer. He leaned against the locker beside hers and grinned down at her. Emily watched and knew that he was fully aware of her anger.

Her power sent it radiating off of her in waves. Emily began to grow alarmed when she noticed a few strands of a reddish glow slowly extending from her body, waving slowly as if underwater.

People throughout the hallway were slowly beginning to stop and watch as the sixty-four inches of pure fury stared up at Lash, face turning red and hair starting to float as if a small breeze was blowing past. Lash tried to keep his smirk, but fear could be seen in his eyes.

"Somebody had better watch their temper," Carrie clenched her fists and bared her teeth, a seething growl emanating from her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and pursed her lips together, breathing deeply through her nose. A few moments passed before the reddish glow surrounding her body slowly faded back into her body. Once it was completely gone, she tilted her head back, her eyes still closed and sighed, opening them and staring at the ceiling. She then closed them, sighed, and opened them again, staring Lash dead-on in the eyes.

"You're right, Lash," she said, much calmer than before. "I should watch my anger. Especially since your an asshole who doesn't deserve my time or attention." She turned to her locker and opened it calmly, removing her books and then closed it. She didn't even glance at Lash as she turned her back and walked away, Emily calmly following behind, as if this were a regular thing.

And for some strange reason, Lash thought that it was the hottest thing in the universe.

* * *

He couldn't get her out of his head. He had lunch with her, as well as four of his six class periods. And the two classes that he didn't have with her, he had her little friend, the pseudo-goth chick with the creepy blue eyes...

He remembered the weird red glow that had surrounded her body as she glared up at him with the most vicious fury he had ever seen. Not even his mother had appeared that angry when she was informed of his involvement with Royal Pain.

He was going insane, trying to figure out why she would be so angry at him for slamming her locker shut. But that wasn't it, he realized. His mere presence seemed to drive her to the brink of homicidal fury. He was seated next to her in every class that he had with her. Or in front of her. Or behind her. And it seemed that if he tried to interact with her, she would try to kill him with her eyes.

Why did she hate him so much?

"Dude, quit killing yourself over this." Lash lifted his head from the table and stared blankly at his best friend.

"Over what?"

"Over that chick hating you." Speed took another large bite out of the meatball sub that his mother had packed for his lunch. "It's no big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal!" he groaned and buried his hand in his hair. "I don't know what I did to her! I'd be fine if she hated for for homecoming last year, or if I had known and tormented her for years! Hell, I might even enjoy it! But for no reason? That just bugs me..." Speed stared at him blankly.

"Well, you might as well get over it. Because it's obvious that she hates you too much to tell you why she hates you... if she has a reason." Lash groaned. "But you could still try asking her."

Lash sat up and stared blankly at his friend.

"...What?" Speed shrugged.

"Try asking her. I mean, you've got nothing to lose."

"How about my life? Or worse, my _nuts_?" Speed snort-laughed and looked at Lash.

"Dude, what makes you think she'd do something like that?" Lash glared.

"Speed, we haven't seen her powers in action. We don't know what she can do." Speed paused in mid-chew.

"That's a good point."

"Exactly." Speed appeared thoughtful, but then shrugged and continued chewing, swallowing the last bite of his sandwich.

"Well, still...she's not allowed to hurt you, so she probably won't." Lash gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, releasing a slow breathe.

"...What?" Speed crossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"She doesn't look like the type of girl that would hurt you _intentionally_." Lash glared.

"Neither did Gwen." Speed shrugged one shoulder.

"But still... maybe you could try it. If I'm right, and she is the type of girl who won't hurt you outside of Save The Citizen, you're in the clear."

"And if she has enough of a temper like Peace, or enough of a badass like us?" Speed shrugged.

"If this whole thing is killing you as much as you say it is, it's a risk you can take."

The bell rang and Lash nodded at Speed, who threw away the remnants of his lunch and then actually went to class. Lash continued to sit at the table and ponder over his thoughts as the number of people in the lunch room decreased. Only a few people were left, until-

"Livingston! Get off you lazy butt and go to class."

Lash jumped in his seat and whirled around in shock. Not because someone had spoken to him in such a demanding way, Boomer did that all the time.

But because it was the said person who had been haunting this thoughts and driving him to the brink of insanity.

"Hey, Carrie." The blonde girl frowned and walked over, shaking her head.

"Go to class, Livingston."

"Lash," she glared at him.

"What?"

"My name is Lash. I want you to call me Lash." Her lips twitched slightly, as if she was fighting back a smirk.

"You can't always get what you want, _Livingston_." He glared at the blonde girl before rising to his feet and walking over, stopping once he stood less than a foot away from her.

"What is your problem?" He snapped at her, glaring down at her. Deep inside, he was rolling on the ground with laughter due to their ten inch height difference.

"What do you mean, what's my problem?"

"Why do you hate me? You've never met me, you weren't at the homecoming dance last year, I haven't done anything to you! But you act like I've done something to you that is completely unforgivable! Well, what is it? Tell me!" The two of them glared into each others' eyes, willing for the other to cave in at some point. However, Carrie parted her lips to say something, and Lash hoped that it was to provide answers to his questions.

"Get to class, Livingston." And with that, she turned around and walked away.

* * *

_Now, why does Carrie hate Lash so much? What did he do to deserve her anger? And why does it bother him?_


	7. Partner Assignments

_**Chapter Six**_

* * *

Emily sat in the one class that she was forced to endure without the company of Carrie. Unfortunately, she had to endure it with Lash sitting behind her. It was also known as being the class with the most partner projects throughout the semester. However, the partners were _assigned_.

They had suffered through one project, and Emily had been stuck with Lash due to her 'assignment'. He had pretty much screwed around and made her do all of the work, and had taken his expected credit, _when he didn't do **jack shit**_.

Unfortunately, she was expected to be paired with him again. She was lamenting in her mind due to how long the semester was going to feel as the teacher started reading off partners.

_"Durango, Romani..."_

"Hey, Elisa-"

"It's _Emily_." She hissed over her shoulder at Lash, who had started poking her between the shoulder blades with his pencil. "And I'm trying to listen!"

_"Winzer, Golman..."_

"Look, I need to ask you something about your friend, Carrie?" He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. She glared at the front of the classroom, her knee beginning to bounce up and down agitatedly.

_"Nares, Dulcey,"_

"What about her?"

"Why does she hate me?" Emily was slightly thrown off by this question.

_"Boleros, Shiele..."_

"What?"

"Why does she hate me?" He hissed. "It's really bugging me." Emily smirked with the knowledge that Carrie was getting under Lash's skin. She would probably have difficulty breathing once Emily told her, because she would be laughing so hard.

_"Dizon, McGnoll..."_

"Why don't you ask _her_?"

"I tried! She just made me come to class!" Emily rolled her eyes.

"Well, get over it, because I'm not telling you anything!"

_"Livingston, Greenere..."_ Lash dropped it once his name was called, instead opting to turn and whisper to his partner, a guy with way too many piercings on his face who could walk on walls. However, Emily was perturbed.

Her assignment... she had to be paired with Lash... didn't she? Wasn't that necessary for her mission? She puzzled over this through the next three pairs until it reached the final two students who had yet to be partnered. Emily's name was called, along with another's. And when his name was called, her heart skipped a beat and her face flushed. When the teacher said his name, time seemed to slow down and extra emphasis was put on their names.

_"Bates, **Peace**."_

After he finished assigning partners, he placed the sheet of paper on his desk, seemingly unaware of Emily's complete shock.

She needed to talk to him after class.

* * *

"Mr. Smith," the aging teacher looked up from his work to see Emily standing there, fidgeting with the shoulder-strap on her messenger bag. She waited until the entire room was empty before glancing around suspiciously. "Mr. Smith, my assignment? Shouldn't I have been paired with Lash?" Mr. Smith sighed and removed his glass, cleaning them off with a cleaning cloth that he kept at the side of his computer.

"Emily... I've been teaching twice as long as some of those so-called heroes on the board that gave you that assignment." He pointed at her with his glasses. "And I know that nothing will come from me pairing you with someone who will abuse your intelligence." Emily smiled for a split-second at the compliment, but continued to fidget with her bag. "Mr. Greenere is also a slacker. The two of them getting nothing done and failing the assignment may teach them a lesson. As for you and Mr. Peace... I've seen your file, and I believe that the two of you will work together fine." He smiled and made a shooing gesture with his hands. "Now, don't worry and just get to your next class."

* * *

"Code Red." Carrie looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at the panicked Emily standing over her.

"What the hizzaps, homeslice?" She asked, trying her 'gangster' voice. It was really pathetic.

And yet it still made Emily calm down considerably, enough to burst into a fit of giggles and sit down next to her friend.

"The 'hizzaps' is that I wasn't paired with Lash, despite our instructions." Carrie shrugged.

"Doesn't sound so bad..."

"He placed me with _Warren. Fucking. Peace._" Her tone was dead serious, and her eyes showed alarm. Carrie took a bite out of her apple and chewed slowly, her expression thoughtful. Emily waited with baited breathe until Carrie swallowed and opened her mouth to respond.

"I never knew that Warren's middle name was 'fucking'." Emily groaned and rolled her eyes, slamming her forehead onto the table. She stayed that way the rest of the lunch, Carrie watching her while taking occasional bites out of her apple.

* * *

_Now, what's Emily's problem with Warren? Oh, and I apologize for the shortness of the chapter...  
_


	8. The Deal

_**Chapter Seven**_

* * *

"Alright, everyone!" Mr. Smith clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "I want you go get together with your partner for the project so that you can discuss what you want to do the project on!" There was shuffling and the screeching sounds of desks being dragged around so that partners to talk easier. Emily inhaled deeply to calm her rapidly beating heart and then rose to her feet and approached Warren, who hadn't even lifted his eyes from his book yet. Emily opened her mouth to speak, but then froze when she saw his book.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?" He finally looked up from his book and quirked an eyebrow.

"You've read it?" Chills ran up and down Emily's spine at the sound of his calm, low voice.

"I always liked it. A friend of my dad's made me read it when I was younger and I really enjoyed it." There was an awkward pause before Emily cleared her throat and then grabbed a desk, dragging it closer to Warren's. "But I've always been a bigger fan of Tom Sawyer. I always like a smartass." Warren chuckled and smirked, making Emily lower her head with hopes of her hair shielding her blushing face. Warren used a piece of paper to mark his page and then closed his book, setting it down and then grabbing his notebook.

"Now, what are we doing for this project? I just read in this class." Emily's flush disappeared quickly and she also smirked.

"It's 'The Psychology of Villains'. What do you think?" Warren chuckled again.

"Same thing we did last time?"

"Same thing we did last time." Emily confirmed. "So, what villain?" Warren's face darkened for a short moment and Emily knew why. She was silent, folding her hands together and biting her lip, then leaning forward and whispering. "Not your dad." He glared at her and she kept her expression stony. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"My last partner wanted to..." he grumbled. Emily nodded.

"It's better than my last partner. The son of a bitch made me do all of the work." Warren smirked.

"Lash?"

"I don't like him."

"Neither do I."

"Homecoming?" Warren glared suspiciously at her.

"...How do you know about that?" Emily paused a moment before smirking and waving her hand in the air in a nonchalant manner.

"Word travels fast." Warren's expression remained unconvinced. "Look, let's just try to figure something out..." Warren nodded in agreement.

And for the rest of the period, the two continued to trade ideas for a villain who they could do their project on. It was surprisingly difficult.

They settled on Two-Face just as the bell rang.

"Alright, so where are we going to work on this?" Emily paused and sighed.

"We can't do it at my place." Warren quirked an eyebrow.

"Why? What's wrong with your place?"

"We wouldn't get anything done. Trust me." Warren shrugged after a moment.

"Well, we can't work at my place either." Emily didn't ask any questions, instead just shrugging as she lifted her messenger bag onto her shoulder.

"Well, I doubt that we'll be able to work at school... public library?" Warren shrugged.

"We can also try it at the place where I work. When I'm on break, y'know?" Emily nodded at his suggestion.

"We work at the library together on your days off, and I can try to scrape together information that you can use for your portion."

"Alright. So, we have an agreement?" Warren smirked.

"I guess we do." Emily smirked as well and the two of them shook hands.

* * *

"Mimi, where are you hurrying to?" Emily froze as she grabbed the doorknob, turning to face Carrie who was munching on a cereal bar at the kitchen counter.

"I'm going to meet Warren at the Library." Carrie smirked and nodded slowly. "...Don't even start." Carrie laughed as the door slammed shut behind her friend. After Carrie finished her cereal bar, she sat down on the couch and sat there for about five minutes. And then she stretched out, burying her face in one of the threw pillows. She remained sprawled out on the couch for about another half-hour before her boredom prompted her to look up at the clock. She blew a few strands of hair out of her face and frowned.

"What the hell am I going to do...?" she mumbled to herself, not showing any real concern toward the fact that she was talking to herself. She stood and fished her wallet out of her messenger bag and then opened it, looking through and counting her money. She thought for a moment before tugging a twenty out of it and then placing it back into her bag, folding the twenty and tucking it into her pocket.

She nodded at a few people as she left the facility, the gate clanging shut behind her as she stepped onto the sidewalk. She looked around and sighed before walking down the sidewalk to her left. She continued walking, taking occasional turns, until she finally recognized her surroundings as the metropolis area. She walked into the central park, smiling at the smaller kids on the playground and their mothers sitting at the surrounding benches, watching carefully and still laughing with the other mothers. She crossed her arms and kept walking, pausing when she reached the center of the park where there was a fountain with a statue of The Commander and Jetstream. She sighed and shook her head at the proud visage of the two people. She smiled when she spotted what she had walked all of the way from the facility for.

An ice cream stand. She practically skipped up to it and smiled at the young woman sitting behind the counter.

"Chocolate chip cookie dough?" she asked hopefully, glancing over the available flavors and brightening noticeably when she spotted her favorite flavor. "Waffle cone please." She paid for her ice cream and then turned and took the first bite of it eagerly. She grinned and circled around the fountain, sitting down at the only unoccupied bench. She ate her entire cone while watching the assorted couples walking and laughing and the kids with their parents running around. She smiled and wished she had a camera to that she could take a picture.

"Aw, what a cute setting!" she grimaced and turned to glare at Speed and Lash as they walked towards her. Speed grinned and started laughing at his sarcastic comment. Lash simply shook his head at his friend, his messy dark brown hair falling into his even darker brown eyes.

"Shouldn't you two be somewhere else?"

"Like where?" Lash snorted.

"Hm... How about getting your head flushed down a toilet by a sidekick?" Speed and Lash immediately went silent, staring at her in shock as she stood up and glared at them. "Aren't you going to stretch out and try to grab my shirt threateningly?" she sneered, walking towards them slowly, her small frame becoming suddenly intimidating. "Or race up to me and try to do the same thing?" she stopped when she stood about two feet away from them and smirked. "Oh, that's right... you _can't_." she nodded her head towards their feet, where each of them had a metal bracelet sealed around their left ankle. "Not with those on." Lash's face turned red with anger and he reached out and grabbed the collar of her shirt, dragging her closer and glaring into her eyes furiously.

"_How do you know about all of that_?" He growled angrily. The corner of her mouth twitched, as if she was fighting back a smile.

"...Nunya." she smirked as he raised his arm as if to hit her. "Go ahead, stretchy. You don't know my powers, so I _dare_ you to take that risk." his breath became ragged with fury as he lowered his arm and grabbed the collar of her shirt with both hands. He lifted her off of her feet so that her face was nearly two inches away from his.

"_How_?" he seethed. Her smirk disappeared and her face became instantly serious.

"What are the rules of your parole?" Lash remained furious, glaring into her eyes, and Speed snorted and walked closer, standing beside Lash and glaring at her as well.

"What's it matter?" she smirked.

"You want to beat me to a pulp, right?" Speed nodded and Lash's anger became mixed with curiosity. "Well, those ankle restraints contain your powers, so you can't do jack shit. Did they say any circumstances that you could have them _removed_?" Speed snorted.

"They won't let us participate in Save The Citizen, if that's what you're thinking."

"What would you say if I told you I could find a way for you guys to get those ankle restraints removed, just long enough to fight me in Save The Citizen?" Lash paused a moment, then slowly set her down on her feet.

"I would tell you to keep talking."

* * *

_So, how does Carrie know all of that about Lash and Speed? And what is going through that head of hers? BTW, I'm making a deal with you guys, since I update so often, and I have a lot of chapter to work on... I want some love for all of my hard work. For every five reviews each chapter, I'll post the next one. Kay? LOVE YAH, DAHLINGS! XD  
_


	9. Warren and Emily Talk

**Alright, I know that I said I would only update once I had five reviews per chapter, but I'm already at max documents, and I want to add more! So I'm just going to thank my (only/three) reviewers: Firekitty08, Mandya1313, and SilverMoon Gypsy. I love you guys! **

* * *

_**Chapter Eight**_

* * *

"Hey," Warren looked up from his book and smiled when Emily sat down across from him.

"Alright, where do we start?" Emily reached into her bag and pulled a folder filled with papers.

"Well, I took the liberty of going to the Gotham City newspapers' website and printing off some old articles that involved Two-Face."

"And while I waited for you to show up," he gestured to a few books that sat beside him. "I found a few books on multiple personality disorder." Emily smiled.

"Very nice..." And their studying continued for another two hours, until the librarian tapped them on the shoulders and told them that the library would be closing in half an hour. The library glared at them as they left the library to Emily cracking silly jokes that made Warren smile and, occasionally, chuckle.

"I don't have to go home for another hour..." Warren drifted off as they walked down the sidewalk. He stopped and looked at Emily. "Wanna just go for a walk in the park?" Emily smiled and blushed.

"Uhm... sure." The two of them walked through the park less than ten minutes later, observing how different it was at night compared to the day. When they reached the center of the park with the fountain, they stopped and stared up at the statue. "...Stronghold is lucky." Warren looked at her in surprise, caught off-guard by her random statement.

"Why?" Emily crossed her arms and looked up at the statue with sadness shining deep in her eyes.

"I don't know... maybe I'm just jealous of his family..." Warren stared at her for a moment and then looked back up at the statue.

"And why is that?" Warren saw movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed her dropping her arms to touch a necklace with wooden beads and a tiny wooden cross that had been wrapped around her wrist.

"I..." she sighed and looked down to stare at the tiny wooden beads. "His parents make time for him." Warren was confused, and didn't hesitate to make an expression that Emily would notice. "His mom and dad are two of the most well-known superheroes in the world, and are busy with their civilian jobs as well." her expression remained somber. "And yet, they still make time for him. They still go to all of his school events, they still spend time with him... they still _care_." she hung her head, her hair once more creating a shroud. "Mine don't even try to _act_ like they care..." she lifted her head and Warren could see one of her crystalline blue eyes shining through. "Well... My mom cares, but she's always so busy that she keeps forgetting, but... being busy doesn't stop Stronghold's mom." Emily crossed her arms once more and kicked her shoe against the concrete. Warren stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say.

"...Why don't we sit down?" he gestured towards one of the benches. She nodded and walked over and sat down, Warren sitting down beside her, letting out a sigh. "...I know how it feels." Emily looked up. "My mom kind of blows me off. She told me once that I look almost exactly like my father did when she met him, and I think that's why..." he looked towards the sky. "And my dad... it's like, he's this huge villain. But when it's just us talking, I have my dad, and he's a really cool guy." Warren closed his eyes and dropped his head down. "And that's probably the reason why I always get pissed off whenever someone badmouths my dad." Emily looked straight ahead.

"At least your dad speaks to you..." Warren remained silent, expecting her to speak more. She did. "I have one power that I developed when I was about six, and I know that I inherited it from my mom. And I got a power similar to my dad's when I was ten... I had always been a daddy's girl, y'know?" she turned to Warren and smiled sadly. "And when I got this power, he never looked at me the same. But, he continued being the stereotypical, fiercely overprotective dad." Her face fell again. "When I was twelve, he had to go out on a job... I wanted to come..." her voice was quieter a little bit. "He didn't want me to. He told me that it was dangerous, and he wanted me to stay home. I had trained hard, and I was confident in my abilities, but he didn't have any faith in me..." her shoulders dropped. "I followed him. And, he was fighting this monster..." her eyes glazed over as she remembered it, as if it was happening right in front of her. "He was getting his butt kicked, plain and simple. While he was taking a beating, I managed to sneak up behind it.

"I found a metal pipe on the side of the road and I shoved it through its head while its back was turned." she smiled for a split-second, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared. "I ran over to help my dad... and he was furious. He was yelling at me about how I could have hurt myself, or how that thing could have hurt me, or killed me." she pulled her legs up to her chest and hung her head. "I told him that I just wanted to help, and that I didn't want him to get hurt, either. But he wouldn't listen to me, he just kept yelling at me about how I disobeyed him. When we finally got home, he said something to my mom and disappeared into his room." her lip trembled. "He hasn't spoken to me since." Warren felt awkward beside her, knowing that she needed comfort. He let out a shaky breath and scooted closer to her, draping his arm across her shoulders.

"Now, that..." he paused a moment. "I don't know how it feels..." Emily sighed shakily.

"At least you listened..." she brushed her hair over her shoulder and looked up at him. "M-Carrie is an empath. At least, it's one of her powers... I'm afraid to talk to her about it because as an empath, she kind of absorbs your sadness or anger, just so that you don't have to deal with it. The problem is, _she_ does." Emily turned her head away from Warren and slowly lowered her legs off of the bench. "My dad gave me this when I first developed... the power that's similar to his..." Warren looked down at the bracelet/necklace as she stroked the beads. "Back when I was still daddy's little girl..." Warren pulled her closer, prompting her to lean her head against his shoulder.

If one was unafraid of being set on fire, the two of them could have been called adorable, due to Warren sitting there on the bench looking like a badass, with his arm wrapped around a depressed-looking, yet still somehow badass, Emily.

"Thanks for listening, Warren..." she whispered after a little while. Warren made a 'hm' noise and closed his eyes, the two of them sitting that way for a little bit.

"So..." he started after awhile.

"Yeah?" Emily stirred beside him. But aside from that, she showed no signs of wanting to move anytime soon.

"How long do intend to lie to everyone about who you really are?" Emily shot up like a rocket and scooted away from him, obviously alarmed. He looked at her, his arm still hanging in the air where her shoulders used to be and a small smile on his lips.

"What are you talking about?" She was alarmed.

"I recognized you the first day you walked in, _Marissa_." he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So tell me... why did you come back, after being gone for two years? And why don't you want anyone knowing who you are?" Emily, now exposed as being Marissa, stared at him with her mouth hanging open like a fish.

"I-I can't..." she bit her lip and looked away from him, staring at the statue. "Warren... I could get in some deep shit if I tell you why I'm really here."

"And Mina? Why would they send her here?" Marissa bit her lip and sighed, turning slowly to look at Warren.

"Lash and Speed killed Mina our freshman year, and I brought her back. Remember?" he nodded. "Well, we've pretty much been stuck in an advanced training program. Mina developed some new powers after I brought her back, and she's been learning how to utilize and control them. And they wanted to 'study' my powers. Well, we pretty much 'graduated' from this program last year. This is our first assignment as government agents. Our assignment is to watch Lash and Speed and make sure that they don't do anything stupid." Warren sighed.

"They do know what happened with Mina and those two?" Marissa nodded. "And you say that she got some new powers after you brought her back to life?" another nod. "Is she powerful?"

"Extremely," was Marissa's response.

"And yet they sent her to keep an eye on those two?"

"Yep. Mina's working on getting an appeal so that she can kick their asses." Warren chuckled, making Marissa chuckle.

"And how's that coming?"

"Surprisingly well. She's working on a loophole." Warren smiled.

"I'm rooting for her. I'm still pissed at them myself." Marissa shrugged. "Alright... wanna talk about something else?" Marissa smiled and shrugged.

"Like what?"

"Like, did you mean what you said?" Marissa froze and stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Your last day... you came in to clean out your locker. You walked right up to me in the hallway and told me that you had liked me since you first saw me in power placement." Warren smirked as Marissa's face heated up.

"...I was hoping you wouldn't remember that... Actually, I was hoping you wouldn't remember me at all."

"Why?" Marissa's face fell.

"Because it would have made things a lot easier for me..."

* * *

_So, Warren and Emily have a long talk! It looks like things are starting to heat up for those two! Sorry, bad pun... And Emily isn't even her real name, but she is instead **Marissa**! And Carrie's real name is **Mina**? The girl who Lash and Speed killed their freshman year? Wait, why do I sound surprised? I'm the freaking author!  
_


	10. Creating The Mist

**I'm OBVIOUSLY not going to get any more love that I already have... So I want to thank _Firekitty08_ and _SilverMoon Gypsy_ for actually REVIEWING. But I also want to thank _I Am Brooklyn_ and _kaypgirl_ for adding this story to their story alert list... I guess that's enough. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

_**Chapter Nine**_

* * *

"So, did you come up with something?" Carrie/Mina rolled her eyes and shut her locker, turning around and glaring at Lash and Speed.

"It was freaking yesterday! You expect that I would have come up with something this soon?" They both glared at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine... yeah, I did. Boomer's picking me and some other random student today at the start of gym. We're gonna play the villains, and you two are gonna be heroes." They grimaced. "And I know what your thinking. And to that, I say... Tough shit." They both glared at her as she gave them a sarcastic smile and walked away. Speed snorted and turned to walk away, nudging Lash.

"Let's go, man..."

"Hang on a second." Lash had his arms crossed over his chest tightly and his lips pressed into a thin line, glaring down the hallway. Speed followed his line of sight and grimaced when he realized that Lash was watching the girl walk away.

"Dude..." Lash groaned and rolled his eyes, spinning around and slamming his forehead into 'Carrie's' locker, all in one fluid motion.

"I'm _sorry_, Speed!" He groaned, hitting his head against the cold metal surface again. "I don't know what it _is_, but she drives me_ insane_!" Speed shook his head and gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder.

"Man... You need help..." Lash groaned again and nodded in agreement.

"It's just..." Speed stopped and crossed his arms, waiting for his friend to say what he was about to say. "I just... dude, for some _freakish_ reason... I think that it is _so_... _fucking_... **_hot_**..." he drifted off and looked down the hallway, now trying to look past Speed and see if he could spot her. Speed grimaced and shook his head once more, pushing against his friends' chest to try and shove him towards their next class.

"I know what you need man..."

"What?"

"You need to shove a freshman's head in a toilet." There was a pause.

"Speed, we can't use our powers, remember? Not yet."

"Well, if they don't put those ankle restraints back on, _then_ we can dunk a freshman's head in a toilet."

"Sounds like a plan." They grinned and hi-fived each other before continuing to wherever they were going. They had the next class with Carrie and Emily, so they _obviously_ weren't going to follow.

_Hell _no, they were skipping.

* * *

"Alright, everybody!" Boomer yelled at the start of gym. He waited a moment to see if anyone would quiet down. When they didn't, well... "I said, _QUIET_!" His yell vibrated throughout the gym, a few people nursing their ears and some girls were whining and trying to fix their hair. Carrie seemed unaffected by his yell, instead choosing to nudge Emily. Emily appeared confused, but then smiled in realization. She reached into her pocket and slipped a small, purple colored candy that strongly resembled a jolly rancher into Carrie's waiting hands. Carrie tossed it into her mouth and twirled it around on her tongue, letting it dissolve some and then sucking on it happily.

You would have thought that Boomer had sonic hearing from how quickly he reacted.

"What have I said about _food_ in my _gym_, Sloane?" He yelled up into the bleachers. "Alright, then! _You're starting_!" Another small gust of wind flew up the bleachers, a few people squinting, trying to keep the air out of their eyes. Carrie's eyes lit up as she jumped to her feet. Emily stopped her quickly and mouthed some words to her, and Carrie nodded once she understood what her friend had told her. She stepped around a few people her were blocking her from the steps, and rushed down towards the arena, where she would suit up. "And your partner will be... Fitzgerald!" Carrie was confused, surveying the bleachers for anyone standing up. And when she saw who, she was slightly surprised.

"Frankie?" The petite girl smiled as she ran into the spot beside Carrie.

"Hey, Carrie! How's it going? Oh, man, this is wild..." She suddenly looked nervous. "I've never liked Save The Citizen... but then again, I've never really played..." Carrie's grin vanished and she looked into the arena, her expression one of dead-set determination.

"You won't have to."

"Huh?" She glanced at Frankie out of the corner of her eye and then closed them, breathing in deeply and letting it out slowly.

"Frankie, I need you to do me a favor. And believe me, it's nothing against you."

"Sloane!" Both girls looked up at Boomer, who had already positioned himself on top of his high-chair_(haha, high-chair...I hope you can understand why I'm laughing)_. "Heroes or villains?"

"Villains!" She shouted, making Frankie grimace.

"What? Why villains?" Frankie hissed at the older girl.

"Trust me."

"Alright!" Boomer yelled down at them, the two of them now entering the arena after having put on their 'armor'. "Now, choose your opponents!" Carrie lifted her hand and placed it on Frankie's shoulder.

"Frankie," she looked up as she was addressed. "I want you to understand that this is my battle, it's personal, and I need to fight it on my own." Frankie looked into Carrie's eyes and swore that she could see a fire burning inside them that she was itching to release.

"Any day now!" Boomer yelled down at them. Frankie thought for a moment before nodding.

"Alright." Carrie smirked.

"Thank you." She removed her hand from Frankie's shoulder and took five large steps closer to the starting line of the arena and then pointed to a spot in the bleachers. Her challenge bellowed throughout the gym, an awed silence following.

_"Lash and Speed!"_

* * *

After her challenge, the two delinquents smirked and rose to their feet slowly, but stopped when Boomer lifted one hand and stared at her as if she was a lunatic.

"You want to fight _them_?" Carrie stared at him for a few moments with no emotion before nodding her head once. Boomer leaned back and shrugged. "Alrighty, then! _Suit up!_"

Five minutes later, Lash and Speed entered the arena in their suits and walked across it, stopping in front of Carrie.

"Ready to get your ass beat?" Speed smirked, the two of them crossing their arms and smirking. Carrie smirked as well, a sinister glint appearing in her eye.

"Watch yourself, boys..." She murmured, dangerously. Frankie stepped back a small bit, nervously watching her new friend stare down two of the most notorious bullies Sky High had ever seen.

"Alright, you know the rules!" Boomer yelled, pulling out the remote that started the timer. "And..." Speed shifted from foot to foot, preparing himself to run, and Lash popped his shoulder, grinning with excitement. Carrie stood with her arms crossed, her face showing no emotion. _"Save The Citizen!"_

The second the timer started, Speed disappeared in a blur, and Lash stretched his arms on both sides of the arena, looping them around two light-posts.

"Remember that you're supposed to be the hero, Lash." Carrie murmured, Lash just barely hearing her.

"I don't care." The second these words passed his lips, he tightened one arm and let go of the light-post, swinging it towards her at a breakneck speed.

However, Carrie moved so quickly he never saw it coming. She flipped backwards, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground and slapping her hands onto the floor as well, Lash's arm sweeping a few inches over her stomach. The second his arm passed her, she turned onto one of her hands and threw all of her body weight into her legs, throwing them into the air and slamming her feet into Lash's face. The force sent Lash flying to the side, and throwing Carrie back onto her feet.

Lash sat on his knees, one hand on the gym floor and the other clutching the side of his face where her kick and split his lip and given him a bloody nose. He looked up at her in fury just in time to see her nonchalantly flip her hair over her shoulder.

"Don't underestimate me, Bendy." She paused for a moment, looking towards the ceiling and he saw her tongue move aroud in her cheek before she grimaced. "Aw, man... you made me swallow my candy." He seethed, and a blur sped past her, knocking her off-balance for a moment and causing her eyes to widen in surprise. Speed stopped beside Lash, quickly helping him to his feet. She glared at the two of them, lifting her arms slowly and holding her palms out towards them. Lash and Speed had been smirking at her surprised expression while it had been there, but they were practically frozen in place as she glared at them with her hands outstretched towards them.

A tiny gray dot had seemed to appear in the center of each of her pupils, but had spread out until a smoky fog seemed to be floating into front of her eyes, writhing in the same way that the red glow had around her body the day that Lash slammed her locker in front of her. She breathed in deeply through her nose, and then exhaled. But what happened when she exhaled was _freaky_.

As she breathed out, a lavender haze appeared at her lips, spreading out and increasing rapidly. Lash and Speed were frozen, not knowing what was happening as the haze surrounded them, and continued to grow until the thick smog enveloped both them and Carrie, blocking them from the view of everyone in the entire gym.

* * *

Lash and Speed were curled next to each other on the ground, their heads swiveling around wildly at the thick lavender smoke that blocked their view of the gym, the only things visible to them being each other.

"What the hell?" Lash gasped in shock. "Is this supposed to blind us or something?"

"No." Their heads shot up at the sound of Carrie's voice. They stared at her as she appeared, the mist floating around her and then slowly receding from her body. She walked towards them until she stood directly in front of them, the gray in her eyes slowly receding once more into her pupils, revealing her usual ocean-blue eyes. "I created this mist to show you something."

"Show us what, exactly?" Speed snapped at her, clenching his hands into fists. She closed her eyes and breathed out the same way she had before she created the mist, and it all spread out further, the clouds slowly forming into a scene. The floor changed color and walls appeared on one side of them, lined with lockers, and across from them large windows formed.

It was the school hallway. She reopened her eyes a stared at them with coldly as more shadows slowly formed, creating illusions of their fellow students. Yet somehow, they appeared... younger. Lash and Speed shared a look, recognizing the setting after a few seconds.

It was everyone from their freshman year.

"To show you the reason that I hate you."

* * *

_Oooooooooooooh, the suspense! Well, review and tell what you think! Tell all your friends about it and tell them to review, too! The more love I feel, the sooner I update! XD_


	11. Inside The Mist: Part One

_**Chapter Ten**_

* * *

"Fantastic, the suspense has been killing me." Lash said while standing up, his tone reflecting sarcasm. However, he was honestly telling the truth. Carrie stared at him coldly for a moment, before turning and lifting her hands. With a flick of her wrists, the scene began moving. The students began walking and laughing, their lips moving but no sound coming out. All of the people were in varying shades of gray, and Speed actually walked towards one of the kids and reached out to tap their shoulder, gasping in surprise and yanking his hand back when it simply faded through.

"Don't bother trying to interact with anything." They both turned to look at her, standing in the middle of the hallway with her arms crossed. "This is just a shadow, a vision of the past. The mist is monotonous, so don't even bother running off in another direction, you'll just end up back here. The only way back to the gym is if I dispel it." She looked down one end of the hall. "Now..." they followed her gaze to see a girl who was actually in color. She wore baggy clothes to disguise her body, and her dark blue eyes shifted around nervously behind a pair of glasses with thick, black plastic frames. She walked quickly and tried shifting her books in her arms so that she could lift one hand to rake it through her frizzy blonde hair and readjust her glasses. Speed examined her for a moment before snorting.

"I remember her! She was some wimpy chick with a crap power!"

"She was the only person who you tormented your freshman year." Lash and Speed turned to look at Carrie, who was glaring angrily at them. "You could have tormented _anyone_, but you chose her._ **Just** her_. She never did _anything_ to you, and you just decided that you would take advantage of her lack of defense." As she said this, a long arm wearing a sleeve with horizontal stripes appeared along the ground like a snake, seizing one of the girls' ankles. She cried out in surprise, flying forward and dropping her books, which spilled out around her. Her glasses flew off of her face, and she gasped, reaching out to grab them quickly before she lost sight of them. Pushing them onto her face nervously, she looked around, trying to figure out who had tripped her. Cruel laughter came from one side, and Lash and Speed looked towards it, just so that their mouths could fall open in shock.

It was them. Albeit Speed wasn't wearing his hat and he had a flat top, and Lash was maybe two inches shorter with a much shorter hairstyle, but it was still them from their freshman year. The shadows of the younger bullies walked straight through their older selves and towards the defenseless girl who was cowering on the floor. A few people paused to watch, but no one bothered helping the defenseless girl.

"Hey, sidekick!" The younger Speed sneered. "We saw your power placement!" She shrank back in fear.

"I-I-I-" she stuttered uncontrollably, shrinking back even further.

"Shut up!" The younger Lash yelled at her. "What kind of power is _empathy_? That sounds completely pathetic!" She was obviously terrified, her small body now shaking with fear.

The scene froze in front of them, and Carrie walked towards the girl, staring down at her with pity.

"She never stood a chance..." She murmured. She lifted her eyes and glared at Lash and Speed, then at their younger counterparts, and then at the surrounding students who were either walking and minding their own business, or just watching. "One person helped her when no one else would..." The scene began moving again.

"Hey, assholes!" Everyone raised their eyes to see a girl who looked a lot like Emily shove through the crowd, anger burning in her eyes. "Leave the girl alone!" The two snorted, shrugging off her demand.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Speed laughed. The girl stomped up to him and shoved her fist in his face. "Oh, scary." She smirked, and her fist lit up in flames, making him leap back in surprise and let out a few swear words.

"I'm gonna cook you like a turkey at Thanksgiving." She threatened. "Now, piss off!" The two bullies glared at her and turned around, reluctantly walking away. The girl with the flaming arm glared at them as they walked away before whirling around and snarling at all of the observers. "Well? Don't just stand there!" Everyone in the crowd jumped and quickly continued what they were doing, stepping around the terrified girl who was trying to gather her books. The girl who had done the rescuing looked at her softly before walking over and crouching down, helping the girl gather her things. "They're assholes. Are you alright?"

"Don't I know it..." She whispered, her voice sounding like she was on the brink of tears. "And yes, I'm fine..." The fire-girl rested her hand on the blonde girl's shoulder and smiled at her gently when she looked up.

"I can protect you from them." Ocean blue eyes stared into sky blue eyes.

"...You're... You're being honest..." She smiled thankfully, her eyes brimming with tears. "Th-Thank you..." Fire-girl held out her hand and grinned.

"I'm Marissa. Marissa Bruttenholm." The blonde girl looked at her hand and then back at her eyes and smiled gratefully, putting down the things that she had gathered and clasping both hands around Marissa's.

"I'm Mina."

The scene froze.

* * *

"Marissa was the only friend she made." Carrie whispered, looking down at the two. "As an empath, Mina could sense how others felt. Everyone was either afraid of you two, or they just didn't give a damn." She bared her teeth in a snarl and glared at them viciously. "And you took _pride_ in that." The two bullies shifted nervously under her intense gaze.

"...Why do you care so much about what we did to this chick anyway?" Lash exclaimed, gesturing to the two girls. Carrie sighed, the scene changing into Nurse Spex's office, where Nurse Spex was off to the side and Mina was sitting on the table, tears on her face and cradling one arm.

"I'm getting to that." She stated coldly as the scene began moving. Mina was cradling her arm and crying softly while Nurse Spex shuffled around, trying to find something.

"Oh, dear, I wish your friend Marissa was here..." She told Mina nervously. "I'm sure she would have one of those little creations of hers that would help you." Mina nodded, just as the door flew open and Marissa rushed in with a bottled water in hand. She handed the bottled water to Mina and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pouch with two tiny, brownish-colored pills.

"Take these." Mina gently placed her arm in her lap and placed the two pills in her mouth, taking the bottle from Marissa after she opened it for her. She downed the entire bottle, grimacing once it was all gone.

"Those are disgusting."

"All of the stuff that's good for you is." Marissa smiled, gingerly taking Mina's arm and massaging it, making the blonde cry out in pain. "God, those assholes... How did this one happen?"

"They shoved me in the locker again, but grabbed my arm the wrong way..." Marissa nodded, her eyes darkening.

"God, I need to stick a homing device on you..." Mina smiled sadly.

"I hate being such a burden to you, Mari..." Marissa shrugged one shoulder, continuing to rub her friends' arm.

"You're not a burden, you're a friend. You accept me... protecting you is my way of thanking you." Mina smiled a little bit, but at least it was honest.

Lash and Speed watched quietly, confused.

"Dude... I feel kinda... weird..." Speed placed a hand over his stomach. "And I know that I'm not hungry." Lash nodded.

"I feel the same way."

"I think that might be your conscience." They turned to look at Carrie, who was smirking. "You're looking at this, at the pain that you caused someone... and you feel guilty." They stared at her in shock.

"We can't feel _guilty_!" Lash cried out, indignantly. "We've _never_ felt guilty before!"

"Which is why the feeling is foreign." They both shut up quickly. "Anyway, there's more for me to show you." And as she said that, the scene started to change.

* * *

_I try to limit the words, so this part of the story is going to be in multiple parts! Yay, multiple parts! Please, review and tell what you think!_


	12. Inside The Mist: Part Two

**Thank me for lowering my 'quota' to four... I want to thank my lovelies: _Firekitty08_, _Mandya1313_, and _SilverMoon Gypsy_ for reviewing, and _garretluvr_ for adding me to their favorite authors list.**

* * *

_**Chapter Eleven**_

* * *

The scene became a montage of things, ranging from them shoving Mina into locker repeatedly, shoving her in the hallways, dumping a bucket of green sand from the janitor's closet on her head, and many other things that actually made them cringe as they watched. They also saw her in the nurse's office multiple times, always nursing some kind of bruise and taking something that Marissa gave her. It stopped once more when they stood in a bedroom where Mina was curled up on the bed, sobbing into her pillow. She had the same strange glow as Carrie had during her first confrontation with Lash, but it was a very depressing shade of dark gray. Lash and Speed watched her sobbing and nursing numerous bruises on her body, and they felt a wrenching feeling in their gut.

Guilt and regret.

"It's different when you see it from a different perspective, huh?" They turned to look at Carrie who no longer had her cold expression, but instead was completely void of emotion.

"I..." Lash started, turning back to look at the depressed girl on the bed. "I never thought..."

"You never thought that everything you did hurt so much?" They both nodded. "Hm... and you just did the physical pain." Both boys looked at her in confusion. "You two gave her bruises and cuts... and occasionally broke a bone or two, but Marissa had ways of healing those..." Her eyes were full of pain. "But when the two of you were with Gwen and Penny... you made fun of everything about her. That did the emotional damage." She inhaled deeply, her breathe shaky. "Marissa could only do so much for her. Her spirit was dying..." Her back was to them, but she turned around, her eyes filled with anger once more. "And you're to blame." She turned again, walking over and looking down at the sobbing girl. "She contemplated suicide many times..."

The scene morphed into a kitchen, where Mina stood at the dishwasher, putting dishes and cups away. She pulled a large kitchen knife out of the dishwasher and stared at it a moment, looking between it and her body. She took the handle with both hands and held it at her stomach for a moment, her lip trembling. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a small sob, switching the knife back to one hand and placing it in it's correct spot. "Do you remember everything that happened with her?" Lash and Speed looked at each other with confusion as the scene morphed into the Save The Citizen arena.

"Stop it, please!" They looked to see her off to the side of the arena, tears in her eyes as Speed whipped around her, knocking her off of her feet whenever she tried to stand. The two younger bullies were laughing hysterically at her pain.

"Man... I don't remember being such a _dick_..." Lash mumbled, watching himself laugh.

"Yeah, and I'm not exaggerating anything." Carrie snorted. They watched the scene unfold as Speed stopped beside Lash and the two smirked, finally letting her stand. The timer had started at 15:00, but was now at 12:27. Speed disappeared as Lash pulled his fist back and grinned evilly, launching his fist at her. She gasped in surprise and jumped to the side, his fist narrowly colliding with her shoulder. She cried out in pain as more tears leaked from her eyes, falling to the ground and clutching her shoulder. Lash laughed and Speed reappeared beside him, joining in the taunting. She stood up and, with a sob escaping her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut, yanked on her arm. A painful 'pop!' sound emanated from the area, but the younger Lash and Speed were too busy laughing to notice her pain. Lash walked towards the illusion and stared at her as she stood there, her eyes showing nothing but pain and fear, and her left hand clutching her right arm.

"Did I..." He drifted off, looking at her and then turning to Carrie. "What did I do?"

"You dislocated her shoulder." Was her cold response. "And while you were laughing at her pain, she popped it back into place." Lash and Speed both winced. "Oh, but there's more..." They turned back to see her try to move forward, but Speed noticed and disappeared, the blur that was him slamming into her and sending her flying off of her feet. She landed on one foot, but cried out in pain and fell over, clutching it tightly. The younger counterparts continued laughing their asses off while she tried dragging herself to the wall, where she managed to pull herself to her feet. She moved along the wall while her tormentors laughed, trying to get to a good spot. Her breathing was heavy and pained, and she winced with every step she took.

The clock read 8:20. Younger Lash grinned sinisterly as she managed to pull herself towards a bench, and hang onto it as if it were her only support. It _was_ her only support.

Carrie stopped the scene, Lash staring at it in shock. Tears of horror were forming in his eyes.

"Oh, _God_, no... not this, _anything_ but this..." He gasped and whirled around, facing Carrie. "I know, I understand! I get it, you_ knew_ her, you _know_ her, whatever! I understand why you hate me! Just _please_, don't make me live through that moment again!"

She didn't even look at him.

The scene started again. Mina took a deep breathe and took off running towards the citizen, an incredibly _stupid_ move. Lash and Speed watched, sharing a quick glance. Once she was halfway there, Lash's arms shot out towards her.

"No..." The real Lash whimpered, watching as his arms wrapped around her body like a boa constrictor. Speed stood behind him, resting his hand on his best friend's shoulder. Lash watched in horror as she was lifted from the ground with ease, and tossed through the air like a ragdoll. He heard her scream, and chills ran up and down his spine after her head connected with the wall, silencing her immediately. The clock read 7:39.

He started sobbing, blocking out all sound.

He watched as his younger self stopped smiling the second her head connected with the wall and stretched over to her side. He said something, nudging the girl with his foot. When she didn't respond, he stooped down, poking her. Boomer yelled something, and he didn't react, staring at the still body in horror. He turned and yelled something back at Boomer, his eyes filled with terror.

"I... I..." He wouldn't stop sobbing as the scene continued in front of him. Students milling around the body as Principal Powers appeared, dragging both of the boys away.

"Killed her?" He looked up at Carrie, who crouched down on her knees beside Lash. "Yes, Lash, you _did_ kill her. _Both_ of you did." She looked up at Speed. "You just dealt the final blow." Lash continued sobbing. "But you still got lucky." Lash and Speed looked at her with surprise. "Principal Powers wouldn't have let the two of you come back if she had stayed dead."

"What the hell do you mean, _stayed dead_?" Speed yelled. Carrie pointed at the scene. They both turned and looked to see Marissa kneeling at Mina's side, holding her close and whispering something in her ear. Occasionally she would stop and lean back to look at her friend, but then lean forward and continue whispering in her ear.

"What's she doing?"

"Watch." Seconds ticked by and Marissa wouldn't stop whispering into her friend's ear. Lash and Speed didn't know how long it had been once Marissa paused a bit longer than she had before. They thought she had given up, until she leaned forward slowly and whispered one last thing to Mina. A few seconds later, Mina's body jolted and she shot up, sobbing uncontrollably and breathing heavily at the same time. She looked around wildly, stopping once she saw Marissa and lunged into her arms, clinging onto her and sobbing.

"She... she _lived_? Marissa brought her back?" Lash smiled.

"Good thing for you, or else you would have been thrown in prison for murder." Carrie snorted. "There's a reason that Powers let you come back, just as there's a reason you never saw her again." Lash smiled and sighed with relief.

"...I still have nightmares about it..." He sighed. But then he looked up in surprise. "But wait... If she's alive, then where is she now?" He turned to look up at Carrie. "Did you meet her after that or something, and that's how you know about all of this?" Carrie shook her head.

"I know about it because I was there."

"Really?" Speed was surprised. "Where? And why do you care if you weren't friends with her?" Carrie rolled her eyes and snorted.

"You mean you two dumbasses haven't figured it out yet?" They both stared at her. "I hate you two for killing her because I _am_ Mina. I'm a government agent assigned to come here and make sure that you two don't do anything _stupid_! 'Carrie' is a _**fucking** alias_!"

* * *

_THE SECRET IS FULLY REVEALED!!_


	13. Inside The Mist: Part Three

**Wow, you guys went above and beyond with the reviews and... those other things... My thanks to _Firekitty08_, _Californication13_,_ kaypgirl_, _SilverMoon Gypsy_, and _Mandya1313_.**

* * *

_**Chapter Twelve**_

* * *

Lash stared at Carrie-sorry, _Mina_-as the scenery faded away, and they were surrounded by nothing but the mist once more.

"...What?" She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"After you two idiots killed me, Marissa brought me back using a power that she inherited from her father. We actually met with Powers afterwards, along with a few governments agents. I had been dead for a little under five minutes and was brought back by _unnatural causes_." Mina sighed and reached up to massage the bridge of her nose. "They wanted to 'study' me. See if there were any side-effects. I talked to Powers, and she decided to suspend you for the rest of the year and then let you come back. Because _I_ wouldn't be there."

"I...I'm sorry..." Lash murmured, hanging his head in shame. "I-I... I didn't mean to. I mean, i-it was an accident!" More tears fell from his eyes and he looked up at her. "I swear to God, I never meant to do that!" Mina shook her head.

"You didn't mean to kill me, Lash. But you meant to hurt me, and that's just as bad." She crouched down and stared into his eyes. "I could make you feel my pain. No, actually, I _should_ make you feel my pain."

"What?" Speed spoke up, and Mina turned her gaze to him.

"There were side-effects of Marissa bringing me back..." She drifted off for a moment. "It did something to my brain. It made my powers a lot stronger. And I've trained with them." She extended her hand just a little bit so that her fingertips hovered an inch away from Lash's face. "I can make you feel like everything is perfect in the world, and I could make you experience an entire year's worth of pain, and what it's like to be _dead_." She stared into Lash's eyes, before lifting her other hand into the air towards Speed, and then yanking it backwards forcefully. Speed gasped in shock as he fell onto his knees next to Lash. She shifted her hand so that it was hovering close to his face, just as her other hand was doing with Lash. "I could put you through the same hell, so that you could _really_ understand." She looked between the two of them. She didn't need empathy to know that they both were terrified. "Oh, so you're afraid of it? _Good_. The tables have turned. You're experiencing the dread that I used to have." Her hands moved closer to their faces. "But I want you to _truly_ feel it."

And with that, she brushed her hands across their faces.

* * *

Lash had never felt so horrible.

He could feel the fear building in his body, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably with sobs. But the strange thing was, they weren't his.

He could soon feel sharp pain, stabbing him in every part of his body. Blows being made to his legs and face repeatedly and relentlessly.

He wanted to beg for mercy, for the unknown assailant to stop. But he couldn't move his mouth, the only thing coming from it being sobs. And all he could hear was laughter. Mocking, taunting laughter.

His entire body hurt, he could feel his bones breaking and healing over and over again, his body being crushed into a small space, things hitting him in the head, flying through the air and colliding with something. His body was shaking uncontrollably and he could barely breathe due to his choked sobs.

And suddenly, it stopped. It was just _there_.

No more pain was being inflicted, but he was floating in this large, black abyss. His body still hurt, and he could feel the immense cold seeping in through his clothes. He could feel every second of sadness and fear seeping into his body, and pushing the life out. And just when he was wishing he would die so that all of the pain, fear, and cold would disappear, he could feel a small pushing at his back and then he was thrown into a long vortex of light. He could feel it pulling at his body, as if it was going to tear him apart, piece by piece.

And next thing he knew, he was curled into the fetal position on the gym floor, sobbing uncontrollably. When he realized where he was, he scrambled onto his knees and felt the ground, still sobbing. He looked to see Mina still kneeling in front of him and Speed, and his sobs became even harder.

"I'm..." he choked, oblivious to all of the other students watching the three people in the center of the arena in shock. "I'm _sorry_!" He yelled, falling forward and burying his face in his hands. "I never _knew_!" He could hear Speed whimpering beside him, and he could tell that his friend felt the same. He continued sobbing, just apologizing over and over again. Even once he heard the buzzer go off and the citizen being chopped to bits by the machine, he couldn't bring himself to stop. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder gently, and he jumped in surprise, looking up with tears in his eyes to see Mina crouching in front of the two of them with a small smile.

"That's all that I ever wanted to hear." After she said this, she brushed her fingertips against their faces one last time.

Lash and Speed both instantly experienced a feeling of being light as air, all of the pain and fear disappearing instantly. Lash was unaware of Speed's reaction to the feeling, but he sighed in contentment, his eyes drifting shut.

And he fell asleep.

* * *

_And, finally! The three-part section is finally OVER! XD Please, review! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update!_


	14. The Aftermath

**Wow, you guys were awesome with all of the reviews! You make me feel special... XD I want to thank _Mandya1313_, _Firekitty08_, _SilverMoon Gypsy_! But I want to thank _hexgurl1001_ for reviewing this story and my one-shot, "Cinnamon Lips", as for adding my story to her alert and favorites list, and adding me to her favorite authors! Thanks, chica! **

* * *

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

* * *

When Lash woke up, it took him awhile to realize that he was in Nurse Spex's office, and that there was a second table set up on the opposite side of the room where Speed was also pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Dude..." He groaned, looking across the room at Lash. "What the hell happened?"

"We just learned exactly how fucked up we really are, got our asses handed to us, and embarrassed ourselves in front of the entire school." Speed appeared confused.

"How did we embarrass ourselves?"

"We _cried_ in front of people." Speed looked devastated.

"Oh my _God_..."

"I know..."

"We'll never be able to show our faces ever again-"

"Quit overreacting, you two." They both looked up to see Mina walking into the room, quietly closing the door behind her. "You guys feeling better?"

"What do you care?" Speed mumbled, crossing his arms and making a face.

"Quit being such a baby." She stated, crossing the room and standing next to Lash. He flushed red as she smiled at him and patted his hand, then crossing the room and opening a cupboard. "You're reputations are not tarnished until graduation, people _will_ take you seriously, you deserved it, and these should help with the ache in your shoulder." She turned and handed two Advil's to Lash along with a glass of water. They stared at her in shock, and she smirked and tapped her head. "Did I neglect to mention that one of the things I learned to do after Marissa revived me is mind-reading?"

"You kinda left that part out..." Lash mumbled against the rim of the cup before taking a large gulp. "So..." He drifted off when Mina jumped up and sat down on the counter. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, swinging her feet a little bit and staring at the ceiling.

"Why are you in this room, not trying to kill me by glaring at me?" She snort-laughed and smirked at him.

"You apologized."

"...Huh?" Both Speed and Lash were confused by this. Mina shrugged and looked between the two of them.

"You guys were on your knees in front of me, practically _begging_ for my forgiveness. You just looked so _pathetic_-"

"Gee, thanks..." Speed grumbled. Mina rolled her eyes.

"But I can tell that the two of you are getting over yourselves. So, unlike everyone else, I think you deserve a second chance." Speed jolted and stared at her in shock, and Lash choked on his water, his eyes practically flying out of his head.

"You think _what_?" He blurted out, oblivious to the water dripping from his mouth and onto his shirt. She just stared at him with a blank 'you-heard-me-right' expression. "We fucking _killed_ you, and all we have to is fucking _apologize_, and you _forgive_ us? We have people in the school who hate us just because we shove them in lockers, and they would _never_ forgive us, even if we got down on our knees and begged!"

"Well, you _were_ begging..."

"That's beside the point!" Mina laughed and grabbed a towel, then walking over to Lash and handing it to him, gesturing at his shirt and face.

"Tough shit. I'm your government-assigned babysitter, so you might as well get used to it." She then turned and walked towards the door, pausing when her fingers curled around the doorknob. "And by the way... no one knows that Carrie is just an alias. So when other people are around, you need to keep calling me that." She looked back at the two of them, smirking and winking casually as she left, closing the door behind her. Lash and Speed must have stared at the door for about five minutes with their mouths hanging open once the door closed behind her.

"Dude... that was hot."

"_Dammit_, Lash!"

* * *

For two weeks after that, the change was incredible. They had actually left off the ankle restraints from Lash and Speed, and the two didn't _do _anything. Former prey would cringe as they walked past them in the hallway, and then stare after them in shock. The two would actually show up for classes, no one knowing the real reason why. For two weeks, things were completely uneventful.

And then somebody just _had_ to start something.

"Hey, Bendy and Speedy Gonzalez!" The two stopped immediately in their tracks and turned to glare at whoever had addressed them in such a way. Standing at the end of the hallway was a guy who was short as _hell_, maybe being 5' 3", at _most_, with hair that added maybe another two inches due to all of the gel he had in it that made it stick up like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket. His hair was jet black with a streak of yellow through the front of it and he stood as if he was the best damn thing, for some reason making Lash and Speed's blood boil.

Lash and Speed shared one look that pretty much said 'retard' before turning and walking away.

"Hey, assholes! Don't walk away from me!" He snarled at their backs. They both stopped dead in their tracks, and Lash turned to look over his shoulder, nonchalantly. However, Speed vanished in a blur, and the annoying kid gasped in surprise when the much taller boy glared down at him.

"Look, kid," he seethed. "We really don't have time for wimps like you-" As soon as these words left his mouth, the boy smirked and pulled back his fist, sparks of electricity forming around it, and then launched it into Speed's gut. Speed wheezed in shock, flying through the air and into the ground, landing at Lash's feet. Lash looked between his best friend and the kid a few times before glaring and stepping over him, approaching the kid slowly.

"You shouldn't have done that." The kid smirked, charging up his fist once more. Lash was about seven feet away when he launched his fist forward, sending bolts of electricity flying at him. They collided with Lash, who didn't even flinch.

"What the-?" The kid stared in surprise as Lash continued walking towards him, stopping once he finally stood in front of him. The kid was obviously terrified, staring up at the student who was nearly a foot taller than him. "I-I-I-"

"Big mistake." Lash hissed, stretching his arm out and wrapping it around the kid. He walked over to the wall of lockers, wrenching the nearest one open and throwing the kid inside, slamming it shut quickly. "Have fun in there, Sparky!" He laughed, turning and walking away. He stopped once he reached Speed, who had long since stood up and was now nursing his bruised ego. "Sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it." Speed huffed. Lash shrugged.

"Let's go find Mina." Oblivious to the confused glances that were sent their way, they continued in their original direction, before they were interrupted by that brat.

* * *

_Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!_


	15. Scars

**As usual, I shall extend my sincerest love and thanks to my reviewers, and/or anyone who has added me or my story to their alerts/favorites: _SilverMoon Gypsy_, _Firekitty08_, _Mandya1313_, _lalunafour_, _hexgurl1001_, and _riseagainsttboi_. You guys make me feel loved... lol XD**

* * *

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

* * *

"And you two were doing so _well_..." Mina sighed.

"Hey! He started it!" Speed declared, obviously offended. "The little bastard sent me flying with _one_ punch! Do you know how _embarrassing_ that is?" Both Mina and Lash snickered as his face flushed with anger.

"Calm down, Speed." Lash tried to settle his friend, still fighting back a smirk.

"Psh, it's easy for you to say! He couldn't do anything to you because you're made of _rubber_!"

"I'm not_ really_ made of rubber." He smirked, probably wiggling his eyebrows behind his hair. "I'm **_all_** _man_." Mina burst out laughing at this, causing the two former bullies to turn and glare at her.

"But still..." Mina sighed, wiping away a tear. "I guess I should be proud of you. I mean, you only did it in self-defense."

"Damn right!" Speed mumbled. "For some reason, I just haven't felt like shoving somebody's head in a toilet..."

"Like, you have less frustration towards the world?" Mina asked, looking down to examine her nails.

"Yeah."

"You don't see the point?"

"Yeah."

"You could care less about your image?"

"Now, I wouldn't go _that_ far..." Lash smirked and rolled his eyes. "It's like, we want people to fear us just enough to leave us alone... but, we don't want to strike fear into their hearts in the way that we _used_ to..." Mina smiled at them, a knowing expression gracing her face. Lash and Speed stared at her for a minute, before Speed's mouth fell open in realization and Lash leaned across the table, stretching his torso until his face was mere inches away from hers. She smiled and giggled, leaning back a little bit.

"_You_ had something to do with it, _didn't_ you?" She lifted one hand and poked Lash in the forehead.

"Yes, I did. And if you would lean back a little bit and stop invading my personal space, I would be more than happy to explain how." Lash pouted for a split-second, slowly shortening his body length until he was back to normal.

"Alright, talk." He huffed, crossing his arms.

"Well, it's kind of an... extension of my empathy. That's pretty much the best thing for me to call it." She acknowledged their confused expressions. "When my powers started out, I had very weak empathy, and that was it. I could sense other people's emotions, kind of tell if their were lying, that kind of stuff. And after I died-" Lash and Speed winced. "-My empathy grew a lot stronger."

"Continue." Lash nodded at her when she paused.

"Well... I can kind of see these auras, like... people's emotions. I don't just sense them, I can _see_ them, too. And it used to be horrible, I would walk into a room full of people and be _blinded_ by all of the colors. And sometimes, I can look deeper and see a different aura... A kind of aura that reflects that person's _soul_, like, what kind of person they are..." She smiled. "It helps me figure out the kind of people who are worth being friends with." She paused again, and Lash and Speed continued to stare at her pointedly.

"You still haven't told us what you did to make us... I don't know, _less mean_?" Speed pointed at her.

"Well..." Her face contorted into a look of deep thought. "While I was gone, I trained a lot with my new powers, trying to learn how to control them, and also figuring out the full extent of what I could do. One of the things I found out involving my empathy is that I can kind of do this 'emotion manipulation' thing by touching someone. I can actually do a lot of things involving my powers through physical contact."

"What _kinds_ of things?" Lash asked her, smirking in a perverted way and wiggling his eyebrows again. Mina rolled her eyes.

"You're a pig."

"Sorry, please continue." Mina's eyes widened, and she looked at him in shock.

"Holy shit, did you just say _please_? And _without_ sarcasm?" Lash snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Just keep telling us what the hell you did." Mina sighed and shook her head, her newly dyed bangs being neon purple instead of it's earlier cotton-candy blue.

"Well, it seems that I can transfer a lot of things through physical contact. My emotions came after I was brought back to life... and some point awhile after that, I could so the same with my thoughts, images... and vice versa." Lash and Speed donned thoughtful expressions.

"And you learned how to do that with physical feelings, too?" She shook her head.

"I can't do physical feelings. All of that pain... it was all in your head. Do you see any bruises? Any scars?" They shook their heads. "If that pain was real, you would have every scar that I have. For example," she twisted her torso so that she could pull up her sleeve and show them a large scar with tiny lines going back and forth along it on the back of her shoulder. Her started at the back of her shoulder, right at the center of the curve, and stretched further underneath her shirt to where they couldn't see. "This is from the first time you fought me in Save The Citizen. I told my family it was an accident... and I had to get stitches." Lash's arm stretched across the table to gingerly run his fingertips down the scar, tracing the long, twisting scar with his fingertips, feeling the slightly bumpy skin. A sharp intake of breath was emitted from Speed, and Lash could practically _hear_ him wince.

"How did that one happen?"

"The walls were made of _real_ glass, remember? You threw me into one, and it pierced that pathetic armor." She grimaced. "Obviously they've made a few improvements since I left, since the walls around the arena are now plexiglass, and the armor actually offers some amount of protection." Mina's body was twisted around the bench so that they could see the scar, but she couldn't see the look of regret in their eyes. "I didn't have you guys experience this one..." She rearranged her sleeve, and Lash quickly withdrew his hand as she turned around and faced them again. "It was too painful..." Her voice drifted off and her eyes became glassy. "It was bleeding so bad they had to close it up quickly." She pursed her lips together for a moment and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. "They were in such a hurry, they didn't give me any euthanasia. It was either endure the pain or bleed to death." She smirked. "My family freaked out. Big time. But I insisted that it was an accident..."

"Why did you cover for us?" Mina sighed and folded her arms on the table, her eyes glazing over in deep thought. She was silent for a few moments before she sighed.

"I could sense your anger. I could sense your desperation for an outlet. Just as I could sense the fear that everybody else had of you. Sensing negative emotions like sadness, fear, and anger... It's a horrible feeling." She paused. "And I figured that if I was around, then maybe nobody else would deal with the pain you caused." She nodded her head at the shoulder where the scar was. "Pain like this."

"You went through that... without any numbing stuff? Any painkillers?" Speed's voice was soft with disbelief, and Mina nodded.

"But why didn't they tell us?"

"Principal Powers gave you detention for the rest of the semester for screwing up the arena, right?" They glanced at each other.

"Yeah." They stated in unison, both using the same bored tone. "As much as you've destroyed the arena since then, and she hasn't punished you since..." Their eyes lit up in realization. "_Now_ you get it." Lash pictured the scar in his mind.

"I wanted you to know how it feels, but even I'm not cruel enough to put you through _that_ much pain." The image of the scar lingered in his mind, and he thought of how painful that must have been without any painkillers.

"That was why you should have done it." Lash slumped over the table, his arms stretched out in front of him. "We could have killed you _long_ before we actually did..."

"But you didn't." He frowned and sat up a little bit at her response. Speed had appeared thoughtful once Mina had said she could have given them that pain, but didn't.

"So, when you touched our cheeks... you made us experience everything we ever put you through, _except_ that one?" Mina nodded. "And what happened that second time you touched us? That weird, but really nice, feeling?"

"Well..." She leaned her elbows on the table and stared at the wall past Lash's shoulder, appearing very thoughtful. She stared a little bit, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face before grinning and leaning back. "I guess I should call it _siphoning_." They both stared at her like she was crazy. "It's kind of this thing where I can siphon off a bit of your negative emotions. For some reason, whenever I do it, it makes people feel like a million bucks."

"So... you kinda, _siphoned off_ some of our anger?" Lash stared at her incredulously. Mina nodded.

"Enough for you to _not_ be assholes, and enough for you to still be _you_... in a way."

"What do you mean, 'still be us'?" Speed blurted out. Mina shrugged.

"You're emotions and the way you deal with them is a part of who you are. You have a crappy temper, I can't change that. But I can probably change the amount of anger you have pent up inside. And sometimes, that changes the way that you deal with it. Your anger is what made you act out, your whole 'bullying' thing. If you have less of it to deal with, then... well, I hope you get the rest, because I really don't know how to explain it."

"I... guess it makes _some_ sense..." Lash mumbled, resting his chin on the table. There was silence at the table for a moment before Mina spoke up. And with the most random comment:

"Okay, weird silence. A gay baby was just born."

"What the hell?" Lash and Speed declared in unison, both turning to look at her like she was nuts.

"Didn't you know?" She asked, her eyes wide. "Whenever there's a weird silence, a gay baby is born! So, somebody hurry up and say something!" Lash rolled his eyes.

"Alright... So you've got the freaky empathy thing going on, what's some other stuff you can do?"

* * *

_Ah! It is almost time for Mina's full potential to be revealed! Yes, you should know that Mina is modeled after myself... A girl can dream, can't she?!_


	16. Powers? Abilites? Anything?

_Okay, I'm still working ahead on this thing, and I'm running out of room again... So, I'm going to thank the THREE people who reviewed: **Mandya1313**,** Firekitty08**, and **SilverMoon Gypsy**. I love you guys, because you review EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER! XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

* * *

There was a long silence. Mina's expression was very thoughtful, as if she was debating on whether or not she should tell them.

"...I'm not sure I can tell you. I mean, it might be hazardous to my assignment..."

"The thing where you have to babysit us?" Speed rolled his eyes.

"Pretty much, yeah." Mina shrugged. Lash rolled his eyes and snorted, grabbing the attention of both his best friend and Mina.

"Well, if you have such fantastic powers, then shouldn't tell to strike fear into our hearts, or some crap like that?" Mina glared at him.

"If you don't fear me after what I did to you in the gym, then there must be something wrong with you."

"But you gave us the fuzzy feeling afterwards, so we really can't remember what the crap felt like. Except that it was _**really** freaky_." Speed finished his statement with a shudder. Mina smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Glad that I cold be of assistance."

"But, seriously, what can you do? What are you capable of?" Mina became thoughtful again once Lash asked his question a second time.

"I-I'm not really sure..."

"Huh?" Mina sighed heavily and reached up to rub her forehead.

"After I was brought back, I had stronger empathy. Like I said earlier, I could see people's auras, I could do that siphoning trick, the emotion transfer... but that was it." Lash narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"What about the thing with images, and the mind-reading?" Mina shook her head.

"Something happened a few months after I left Sky High. But it's a long story, not to mention one that I don't like to tell." The two boys shrugged, accepting her answer.

"What about the funky purple smoke? How did you do that?" Mina smirked.

"Okay, while in the smoke, you noticed Marissa giving me those pills?" They nodded. "Well, they're a kind of thing that Marissa can create, which can heal a kind of wound in minutes that would normally take a few days, and something that would take months to heal could take mere hours. She can make other things like that.

"If you remember clearly enough, when I delivered that kick to your face, I mentioned that I swallowed my candy. Well, that was something that Marissa made." They nodded.

"It gives you the ability to breathe out smoke that blocks people's view?" Mina shrugged.

"It also blocks out sounds and anyone who might try to walk in or out."

"The vision thingies?"

"I combined it with my ability to project images into people's minds."

"Wow... That's kind of freaky."

"Why, thank you!"

"...You're weird."

"And for some reason, Lash still thinks I'm a sexy beast... Aw, he's _blushing_!"

"Shut _up_!"

* * *

Over the two weeks that Mina had gotten over her hatred of Lash and Speed and had developed some strange kind of friendship with them, Marissa had grown closer to Warren and his friends. She had been accepted quickly by the group, most likely because she was a friend of Warren and not even his friends wanted to cross him.

"Hey, Emily! How's it going?" Magenta smiled as she and her vibrantly dressed boyfriend(Zack, duh.) sat down at the table.

Of course, she had him swear to continue calling her Emily in public, so that her assignment could still be a secret. At least from other students, since Lash and Speed knew. Thanks to _Mina_, and her trick with the freaky purple smoke.

"It's going alright." She shrugged. "I think Medulla is trying to kill me. He acts like I blew up the science lab once or something." She saw Warren smirk out the corner of her eye and instantly knew what he was thinking:

She _had_ blown up the science lab once. Of course, all of the faculty knew about her assignment, so Medulla probably remembered that she had blown up the science lab once during her freshman year... he must have held a grudge against her because she blew up his precious lab.

It wasn't _her_ fault she had been assigned an annoying-as-hell partner who pissed her off while she was working with highly unstable chemicals that were sensitive to dramatic temperature changes...

She found herself wondering what the little bastard had been talking about her that made her angry enough to light up so quickly. She thought about it for a little bit, and it suddenly _clicked_. He had been teasing her about her crush on Warren. Oh... he was the first person to tell her that Warren liked her back, which Marissa ignored do to his obvious tendency to, y'know... ignore her very existence. Her face flushed as she thought about some of the things he said that had made her temper flare. Pardon the pun...

"Emily? What's wrong?" She jumped when Layla's voice invaded her thoughts, and she turned her gaze to the hippie.

"Random train of thought. I just thought about something weird that happened once..."

"What?" Ethan and Zack leaned closer to her, and she glared at them dangerously.

"One, I don't want to talk about it. And two, it's not your business anyway."

"But I wanna know..." Zack whined.

"I said, _I don't wanna talk about it_." she growled, flames appearing at her fingertips and spreading up her arm quickly, stopping abruptly at her elbow. Everybody leaned back a little bit, except for Warren, who simply eyed the flames curiously.

"So you're pyrokinetic? Like Warren?" Layla smiled nervously, obviously worried by the flames. Marissa breathed deeply, the flames dying down just as rapidly as they had spread up her arm.

"Among other things."

"Such as?" Ethan leaned forward in curiosity once more. She glared at him.

"Keep being so nosy about it and I might just torch your face, and then tell you." He swallowed nervously. She sighed heavily, leaning on her elbows.

"Well... I'm completely invulnerable to fire. I guess like a few other heroes, I'm nearly indestructible. But not nearly as much as a few others. I'd say... eighty percent, or something like that? Pretty much, it's really, _really_ hard to hurt me.

"I also have this one other power... But it's one of those things where, if I told you, then I would have to kill you." She smirked. "I also have _really good_ aim, but that's more of something that I _practice_ with. And I want to leave it at that."

Now, she had this kind of creepy, chesire grin that kind of freaked out everybody, except Warren. He was too busy reading. Now, would _you_ mess with that?

* * *

_**Would** you mess with that? As Marissa's creator, I know what she's like... and I would highly discourage it. Anyways, What shall happen next time? What are the things that Marissa and Mina are leaving out of the picture? When will they be revealed? I sure as hell don't know, because I haven't gotten that far with my writing yet!_


	17. Bonding Time

_My love goes out to **iXheartXdemy-chan**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **Mandya1313**, and **hexgurl1001**!_

_However, I want to send out extra love to **lalunafour**, because she corrected a fatal (literally) mistake in chapter 15! I used the word euthanasia for painkillers, when the word I should have used was anesthesia. Whoops. Turns out euthanasia is a word for... the act of putting someone to death in a painless manner. So, yeah... my bad. XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

* * *

"It's been too long since we've hung out." Marissa looked up from the bowl of chili that Mina had made and raised an eyebrow, which was barely visible behind her shroud of black hair.

"What do you mean? We _live_ together." Mina shrugged and smiled, pulling a plastic container out of the bottom of the pantry.

"I mean..." Mina paused to pour the chili into the container and close the lid. "We haven't had Mina-Marissa night in a _long _time. Y'know, sit around watching 'VH1: I Love The 80's' on DVD, eating cookie dough ice-cream out of the box..." She drifted off and smiled widely at her friend, then turning to cross the kitchen and place the leftover chili in the refrigerator. "Why not tonight? It's Friday." Mina grabbed a rag and walked over to the sink so that she could wash the bowl that she had used. However, she stopped as soon as she had filled her bowl with soapy water when she heard no reply. She looked up at Marissa, who had seated herself at the small bar and was now looking down at the counter with her empty bowl now sitting in front of her.

"Mina..." The girl in question cocked her head to the side in slight confusion.

"What is it?" There was a moment of silence before her expression became somber, a light of realization reflecting deep in her eyes. "Other plans?" Marissa scratched at the countertop with her fingernail nervously, then lacing her fingers together and twiddling her thumbs.

"Will and Layla planned some kind of hangout thing at the Paper Lantern, and Warren pretty much had to come... He invited me, saying that he doesn't want to be alone with the other 'Homecoming Heroes'..." Marissa bit her lip nervously. She had _never_ turned down Mina's proposition for a Mina-Marissa night before. _Never_. It didn't occur to Marissa that she was shooting down her best-friend for some new friends, people who she hardly knew.

Marissa seemed to forget at that moment that she had a mental connection with Mina, a result of bringing her back to life. And it was through that connection, combined with her empathy, that Mina felt a stab through her heart.

Her best friend was, in actuality, shooting down their quality best-friend time...

For a boy. Warren Peace. But Marissa didn't have empathy, and she didn't have the all-time access to their connection like Mina. She had to focus for it to work. Some kind of weird, psychic-type thing. But it was due to her lack of empathy and current use of their 'connection', that she didn't experience her friends' pain.

"It's fine! Go ahead!" Marissa looked up and smiled nervously at Mina, who was flashing her mega-watt smile. She actually had the delusional thought that her friends' acceptance and understanding was _sincere_.

"You sure?"

"Yeah! Go ahead!" Mina walked over and reached over the countertop stove and the bar counter, grabbing Marissa's bowl. "I'll just stay here and have all the fun myself!" Marissa smiled and chuckled, jumping off of the stool and walking towards the door. She grabbed her black suede jacket off of the coathanger and turned to look back at Mina.

"You're really okay with this?" Mina nodded and grinned widely.

"Of course! You've wanted a date with Warren Peace since we were _freshman_!"

"It's not a date!" She blushed, trying to hide her small smile.

"Yeah, sure! Now, hurry up!" She made a shooing gesture, and Marissa smiled wider and opened the door, stepping out into the drastically different style hallway. She waved and then shut the door behind her.

And after the door closed behind her, Mina's smile disappeared, and she returned to the sink. She finished the dishes slowly, pausing occasionally to appear thoughtful, and then continue. It was after she was gone that she sat down on the couch and pulled her legs to her chest, then grabbing a throw pillow and burying her face in it.

Mina hadn't felt this alone since she was freshman.

* * *

"Now, I feel that something is on your mind..." Mina managed to roll her eyes, despite her ragged breathe and dripping wet body, while she grabbed the edge of the pool and dragged herself onto the linoleum tile floor.

"Because you read it while I was underwater, _trying not to be eaten_?" She shouted the final half of her sentence, which echoed throughout the underground pool area, making the blue-skinned fish-man and two agents by the door wince.

"Now, I think you may be overreacting a little bit. You obviously would not have been eaten-"

"Well, the least you could have done was _tell_ me that you added a _mechanical shark_ to the training area!" She snarled angrily, suddenly shrieking in surprise as a large mechanical arm burst from the water on the opposite side of the pool, seizing her by her waist and tossing her into the air. "Dammit, Abe! _Turn off the training system_!" She shrieked. Abe's mouth hang open for second like a fish-pardon the pun-until he dove into the pool and weaved through the assorted pillars and floating mines, as well as avoiding cursed fish-bones and strange electric eel-type creatures. He barely glanced at the demolished bits of what was once a mechanical shark and finally reached the opposite end of the pool, where a bright red button was on the bottom of the pool.

The bottom of the pool that was twelve feet deep. The pool that had no shallow end... _Wait a second_.

Abe designed a pool that was twelve feet deep, filled with pillars and floating mines, and a few enchanted monsters from across the world; _hell_, he even threw in a few robotic hands that would grab anyone who swam in it and wasn't fast enough to get away, _and_ a _mechanical shark_?

I think Area 51's favorite fish-man has a tad of a sadistic side to him...

Anyway, once Abe managed to hit the button, the mechanical arm released Mina, and she screamed as she fell about ten feet into the water. Of course, all of the pillars shot down into the pool, as well as the mines being pulled down, and a new panel sliding over the spot where they once were. All of the fish and eel-creatures shrieked as glowing symbols appeared on their bodies and they dissolved into a strange foam. Like alca-seltzers! Okay, bad time...

Now, as Abe hauled himself up a ladder that had shot up from the bottom of the pool and attached itself to the wall-oh, did I neglect to mention that there were no ladders or steps? Oh, well now you know-he gasped in surprise as a hand shot out in front of him and grabbed the front of his wetsuit, hauling him onto the linoleum. He cowered as he stared into Mina's ocean blue eyes, which now looked as though a storm was about to break loose.

"Abe!" She shrieked, making him wince in pain. She panted heavily and glared into his eyes for a few moments, before she finally sighed and let go of him, her anger dissolving as quickly as the creatures that had been in the water. He collapsed on the floor and stared up at her as she reached up and squeazed some water out of her hair, and then tugged gently at a few parts of her wetsuit, which was similar to the kind a surfer uses in the middle of summer, with its legs cut off at the knee and arms cut off at the elbow. She lowered her head and crossed to the area at the opposite side of the pool where there were a fold-out chairs set up, and grabbed her towel which had been laid on one of them.

Abe rose to his foot and stood there awkwardly, watching the soaking wet teenager sit down at the edge of the pool and drape her towel over her shoulders. He nodded at the two agents in dismissal, and they both left the pool area, the door 'whoosh'ing shut behind them. He approached Mina and stood beside her, waiting until she looked up at him and glared.

"What?"

"On any other day, you would have laughed at my neglect of mentioning the mechanical shark." She sighed heavily and dropped her head. He shifted nervously and sighed, sitting down sitting down beside her, letting his legs dangle in the pool water like her. There was an awkward silence before he hesitantly reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "Does it concern Marissa?" There was a long pause before she nodded. "Well, you can tell me about it."

"It's a long story." Mina answered immediately.

"You have been and friend to Marissa in the way that you talk to her. And she has been a friend to you in the way that she defends you. You need a friend to talk to you, and, as surprising as it may be, that's something I'm good at." Mina smiled and nodded.

"Well, get ready for your ears to fall off, because there's _a lot_ of things that I want to talk about..."

* * *

_And so, a talk is about to ensue! What is it that Mina wants to talk about, besides Marissa? And how will Marissa's night with Warren and his friends go? The more reviews I get, the sooner you find out! XD_


	18. More Talking, More Thinking

_Okay, so I worked ahead and I WANT TO KEEP GOING! However, I only have one review since I posted my last chapter... But I want more so bad, I can't wait! So, I send my love to **SilverMoon Gypsy**, my only reviewer for last chapter. I LOVE YOU! XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

* * *

An hour after training, Mina and Abe's legs still dangled in the pool water, and the teenage girl had started crying some point after she began spilling all of her feelings to her friend and teacher. And throughout the whole thing, Abe listened intently, not trying to interject and make any commentary, just listening.

"I don't know Abe..." she sobbed once she finished. "Am I just being selfish? Because, I know that she deserves more friends, and she's liked Warren for so long... And he likes her back, I can sense it..." Mina sniffed and reached up, wiping away her tears. Abe sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think you're being selfish, Mina. You've just grown so accustomed to being Marissa's only friend, it's very strange having other people there. In fact, if I was you, I would be mad."

"Why?" Mina asked him softly, lifting her head to look at him with watery eyes.

"Because, she could have easily invited you to tag along!" Mina laughed bitterly.

"They aren't my new friends. It would have been awkward, weird, and rude..."

"Why would it be rude?"

"Because she would have just invited me without asking them if it was alright! _Hell_, they probably don't even remotely _like_ me!" Abe tilted his head to the side, confusedly.

"Why would they not like you? I mean, you have a very charming personality-"

"I hang out with Lash and Speed."

"The young men who _killed_ you?" Abe immediately tensed and leaned away from her, his eyes even wider than normal and his tone loud and incredulous. "Why on _earth_ would you spend time with _them_? I mean, even for your _assignment_ you wouldn't usually do that-"

"I showed them, Abe." She stopped him, staring straight ahead. "I used my powers to make them experience everything I went through... and they just looked so _pathetic_, I had to forget about the whole thing and forgive them... And I siphoned some of their anger, and they're _entirely **different**_ people!" Abe was silent for a few moments.

"You siphoned them?" His tone of voice had changed from incredulous to confused, and his question rang out through the empty pool area, echoing against the walls.

"I just..." Mina sighed and shook her head. "I thought that it might influence them for the better... and it did. _Drastically_." She chuckled and smiled softly. "It's amazing how much someone can change after just a little bit of their anger is gone..." Abe shook his head.

"I you sure it was a good idea?"

"I'm a thinker, Abe. Just as much as you or Liz." He smiled at his student and reached up. However, as his hand hovered above her head...

"Abe, you know enough of my thoughts. And I think you're suction-cuppy hands might feel funky on my head." Abe laughed as she stood up and walked back over to her seat, slipping on her flip-flops. "Well, Abe... thanks for listening. It means a lot..." The fish-man laughed and nodded.

"Of course. And, Mina..." Said blonde turned at looked at him curiously as she began her walk towards the door.

"Yeah, Abe?"

"I'm glad that you let me listen, Mina. It makes me feel..." He hesitated for a moment, dropping his gaze to the ground. After a few moments he looked up, locking eyes with the teenage girl. "Well, it makes me feel somewhat like... somewhat like a _father_..." Mina appeared surprised, but then her face lit up with a smile.

"You would make a good one, Abe." They nodded at each other and she disappeared through the door, it making its usual 'whoosh' noise. Abe sighed and walked over to the nearby wall where a switch was located. After hitting the switch, he turned to see the pillars from earlier rise up in the pool, as well as the panels opening up on the bottom and the floating mines rise from them, stopping when the chains they were attached to reached their limit. A few panels opened up on the other side as well, releasing assorted creatures, as well as a brand new mechanical shark. Abe climbed to the top of a high diving board, and he hesitated for a moment at the end before diving into the perilous training area.

* * *

Marissa was actually enjoying herself as she laughed hysterically with Warren's friends at something that Zack had said. Of course, it wasn't so much as what he had _said_, as what he had _done_ when he said it. He had actually mentioned something about the bathrooms at the pizzeria where they were currently eating at, when he actually slipped on a puddle that was left from one of the employees who had mopped the floor shortly after they had arrived. He had actually flown _backwards_, his legs flying _up in the air_, and landed painfully on his backside. He was actually laying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling as every one of his friends rushed to his side excluding Warren and Marissa. Warren simply chuckled to himself, whereas Marissa was obviously fighting with everything inside her to contain her laughter.

"Oh, sure! Keep laughing you two!" He declared, sitting up with the assistance of Magenta and Ethan, glaring playfully at the two pyrokinetics.

"Okay!" Marissa smiled, finally releasing her laughter and clutching her stomach, turning to the table so that she could rest her forehead against it and laugh even harder. "I'm sorry, Zack." She lifted her head and smiled at him widely. "It's just so funny! It's like something..." She drifted off, and then she felt a surge of guilt through her stomach. "It's like something that M-Carrie would do. Except she would do it on purpose, just to make me laugh." Layla tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Really? Wouldn't it hurt?" Marissa shrugged.

"She's the kind of girl who thinks me being in pain from laughing too hard is worth her being in pain from doing something stupid to make me laugh."

"Hey, Emily..." Marissa tilted her head backwards and to the side to see Magenta sitting down at her table once more, Zack taking his seat beside her. "Why is your voice always so raspy?" Marissa's eyes glazed over when she thought about it...

_Marissa screamed as the large scaly beast sent her flying through a wall._

_--_

_"**Son** of a **bitch**!" Marissa snarled as the demon's grin stretched from ear to ear, revealing the rows of deadly sharp sharp teeth, akin to that of a shark._

_--_

_Marissa let out a shriek of fury as she jumped through the air with a chunk of wood in her hand, then slamming it through the chest of the monster, it disintegrating into a pile of ashes immediately. "How ya like me **now**!" She snarled at the pile of said ashes._

_--_

_"**God**, you are so **annoying**!" She yelled and rolled her eyes, whipping out a gun and shooting the green skinned demon in the chest. It merely glanced down at the wound and smirked as it healed up immediately. A deep growl came from her throat, before she smirked and chuckled, then pointing at the gun. "Did I mention that these bullets have been polished with holy water and blessed by a priest?" Its smirk disappeared immediately and it looked down, seeing a hole appearing in its stomach, melting into a green sludge. "**Bitch**!" Marissa snarled, appearing in front of it and slamming it in the side of the head with the gun._

"Marissa? Marissa!" Marissa snapped out of her reverie, looking up at Layla in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You zoned out for awhile after Magenta asked her question." Ethan stated, leaning forward to get a better look at her. Marissa paused and shrugged.

"I was thinking about her question and remembering some stuff."

"...And?" Marissa stared at her a moment before shrugging again.

"I fight a lot." They all stared at her in confusion.

"How does that make your voice all raspy?"

"I scream and yell a lot whenever I fight. Helps release stress and anger." Everyone stared at her like she was crazy, but shrugged and accepted her answer before returning to their original conversations. Marissa leaned back into her seat and thought for a moment. All of the memories of past fights led her to remember all of the times that Mina had saved her ass... And as she remembered those times, she could feel the guilt for leaving her friend gnawing at her stomach. She felt a warm hand rest on shoulder and she jumped and looked at Warren.

"You okay?" His face reflected no emotion, but Marissa knew that he wouldn't be asking if he didn't really care. Marissa thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine." Warren nodded before turning back to the conversation, the look in his eyes showing that he didn't really care about whatever it was that Layla was prattling on about. However, Marissa had lied.

She really felt horrible.

* * *

_Oooooooooooooh... Marissa's feeling guilty! I wonder what'll happen later?_


	19. Making Plans

_Wow, you guys are having me update it no time! I send my love to **Mandya1313**, **Californication13**, and, or course, **SilverMoon Gypsy**. But remember, I'm not just adding reviews anymore... I also add any alerts/favorites you might add me/my story to! XD I just like to feel loved... _

* * *

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

* * *

"Did you have fun?" Marissa looked up as she entered the 'apartment' and smiled guiltily at Mina.

"Honestly?" Mina quirked an eyebrow. "Not as much as I hoped..." She drifted off and stared at her friend. "Next time... I'm bringing you. We need more comedic relief." Mina laughed and shook her head.

"You sure they won't mind?" Marissa felt another twinge of guilt in her stomach at the look in her friends' eyes, a look that she hadn't seen in a long time.

Loneliness.

"They'd better not. I'll roast 'em." Mina laughed at her friend and shook her head. Marissa walked over and sat down at the vacant end of the couch that was unoccupied by her friends' feet. "I'm sorry I didn't bring you..." Mina shook her head.

"It's no big deal."

"Liar." Marissa pouted and reached over, poking her friend in the ribs. Mina immediately squealed and lunged backwards, clutching her side where she had been poked. She glared playfully at her best friend and stuck out her tongue, only making Marissa laugh at the ridiculous look on her friends' face. "I feel bad... a Mina-Marissa night would have been more fun." Mina perked up for a moment. "We're having one tomorrow night. No questions, no objections." Mina smiled widely.

"What on earth gave you idea that I might object?" She responded, using a purposefully horrible, nasally British accent. For some reason, Marissa found this absolutely hysterical. And due to her laughing, Mina continued to use the accent and ask Marissa a lot of questions concerning why she was laughing.

And even when that stopped, Mina continued cracking jokes that made Marissa laugh for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Yay, Mina-Marissa night!" Marissa cheered, running out of her room in her flannel pajama pants and matching tank top. She lunged over the back of the couch, landing on her back flawlessly with her head landing on one of the throw pillows instead of the armrest. Mina walked into the room wearing pajamas that were similar to Marissa's but different color and design. Mina narrowed her eyes in deep thought at Marissa's pajamas and then sat down at the one end of the couch that was not occupied by Marissa's feet.

"I remember having pajamas _just like_ those..." She drifted off, staring at her friends pajamas. Marissa smirked and sat up, crossing her legs in a yoga-style pose.

"You _did_ have pajamas '_just like_' these!" Her friend declared, playfully mocking her. "You gave them to me when you..." She hesitated and stared down at her friends' chest. "_Outgrew_ them."

"...Ah." Marissa laughed and they were silent for a moment.

"What movie are we watching?"

"Try 'movies'." Mina enunciated before grinning evilly. "And the answer to that is the _entire Austin Powers series_. You grab the movies, I'll get the ice cream out of the freezer!" She declared. Marissa grinned widely and lunged off of the couch, scrambling to the shelf of DVD's and grabbed the box set that contained three of their favorites movies of all time.

"You wanna watch some LOTR afterwards? Gawk at how _sexy_ Orlando Bloom is in the movies?" Marissa grinned at her friend as she held up the movie, then staring in joy at the box of chocolate-chip cookie-dough ice cream and spoons in her hands. "And while it's happening, we can crack jokes about how he reminds us of a _certain someone_." Mina blushed and made a 'shut up' motion with her hand, trying not to drop their precious ice cream. _(Trust me, you as the reader, do not know who this 'certain someone' is yet)_

Of course, as soon as she put the DVD in and Mina opened the box of ice cream, their phone rang. They shared a glance that read 'did you expect someone to call?', and Marissa, being the one in the seat directly next to it, grabbed it and answered. "Hello, Sloane residence, Emily speaking." She listened for a moment before her eyes widened in surprise. "Ooooh..." She held out the phone with a suspicious look in her eyes. "It's for you." She stated, before mouthing the word 'Lash'.

"Lash, how the hell did you get my phone number?" She sighed as soon as she held the phone to her ear.

_"Don't pretend you aren't happy to hear my irresistibly sexy voice."_

"I have a crappy phone, so your voice doesn't sound all that sexy to me." She smirked when she heard him chuckle.

_"You do not deny that you find my voice sexy."_ Mina rolled her eyes, and smirked at Marissa, who mouthed 'speaker phone'. Mina smirked and nodded, hitting the button.

"Say hi to Marissa, Lash!" Mina grinned, and there was silence on the other end for a moment.

_"...You put me on speaker phone?"_

"Only just now." Mina responded, smirking at Marissa.

_"Okay, good. Hi Marissa-Wait, why did you answer Emily?"_

"You could have been one of the people who isn't supposed to know who we really are." Marissa answered. "Which is weird, considering you should be _one of them_." She glared at Mina, who smirked.

"Anyway, Lash, what do you want? I'm kinda busy right now."

_"Doing what, exactly?"_ Mina and Marissa both rolled their eyes after hearing the suggestive tone in his voice.

"We're having a long-overdue best friend night. So hurry up, because the ice cream is melting." There was a pause and a disappointed sigh.

_"I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out? Talk... kinda? We could probably hit up Starbucks, my treat."_ Marissa glanced at Mina and smirked, and Mina rolled her eyes, again. However, a red blush still appeared on her neck and spread towards her ears and face.

"Aw, that's sweet of you, Lash!" She declared, fighting back a smile. "But I can't do it tonight... How's tomorrow?"

_"Tomorrow's good!"_ Mina smiled, her empathy automatically sensing the happiness in his voice. _"Alright, well... I'll leave you ladies to your ice cream and movies, then..."_

"Wait, Lash!" Mina suddenly realized.

_"Yeah?"_

"Do you know where I live?"

_"...No."_

"Well, good..." She snickered. "Where do you want to meet up? I can just meet you there at... what time?" She heard a sigh, and could sense his disappointment. So, he wanted to pick her up... _interesting_...

_"You know those old iron benches that are near the park entrances?"_

"Yeah?"

_"You could meet me at the ones near the East entrance, since there's a Starbucks right across the street."_

"What time?"

_"Uh... Six good?"_ Mina smiled and shared a look with Marissa.

"Six is perfect."

_"Okay, seeya tomorrow!"_

"Seeya, Lash! Now say goodbye to Marissa!" She heard hesitation, and could sense awkwardness.

_"...She just heard that whole thing?"_

"You knew you were on speaker phone." He sighed.

_"I'll see you tomorrow at six."_

"Tomorrow at six, East entrance of the park across from the Starbucks. Got it." She smirked. "Seeya."

"Bye, Lash!" Marissa practically yelled, then covering her mouth with her hand to stifle her giggles.

_"...Bye, Marissa... Okay, talk to ya later, Mina!"_ And then Mina heard a faint 'click' and then the dial tone. Mina hit the 'off' button and leaned over Marissa to put the phone back in its cradle. As soon as she sat back down and grabbed the remote in one hand and a spoon in the other, she glanced at Marissa who was grinning evilly.

"...What?"

"You just made a date with _Lash_. _Livingston_." Mina rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that night.

"I know who I made a date with, Mari." Marissa shrugged and smirked, but her attention was soon stolen by the start of the movie, which she probably became even more absorbed in when Mina used one of her powers to turn off the lights.

* * *

_Ohmigod! A date with Lash? Wow, I never would have seen that coming... Oh, wait! Yes I would! I'm the freaking author! **Sarcasm**... anyways, reviews are appreciated._


	20. Sympathetic Confrontation

_Okay, so I've ran out of room in my documents page thingie again and I want to keep writing! Which means I'm going to thank the THREE people who reviewed and post this. So, my love goes out to: **hexgurl1001**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, and **lalunafour**. I LOVE YOU. XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

* * *

"You seem to be trying a bit hard to look nice for a cup of coffee. You _hate_ coffee." Mina smirked and whipped her hair back into a ponytail. The previous night, as part of their Mina-Marissa night, Marissa had redone the color in Mina's bangs so she now had a dark turquoise color instead of its previous purple.

"I do hate coffee. However, this is Starbucks. Which means..." She leaned her head out of the bathroom and smirked at her best friend. "..._Vanilla Bean Frappucino_." She sighed after she said it and Marissa had to fight back giggles as her friend let down her 'aura shield' and a soft blue glow appeared around her body. Feeling effects of her friends happy calm, Marissa didn't bother fighting back giggles after a few seconds.

"You're letting down your shield right now on purpose." Mina smirked and her emotion-aura faded back into her body. She winked and her head disappeared back into the bathroom, and Marissa rolled her eyes. "Aw, put a sock in it, hobiscuit."

"I didn't say anything!" Mina's voice emitted from the bathroom. "And you stole my word!"

"What... hobiscuit?"

"Yeah! You totally stole it from me!"

"It's a _word_, you can't steal it! Besides, you just have this _influence_ over me!" Marissa snickered after her second declaration, which was said with sarcasm.

"Aw, put a sock in it." Mina mumbled, finally stepping out of the bathroom. Her hair was back in its usual ponytail, except it was worn a bit looser, giving it a more laid-back, natural look. She was wearing a pair of plain black shorts with a Self Esteem_(don't own it)_ Mock Layer Music Vest Tee_(Look it up. It's on the Kohl's website, Juniors)_. She wasn't wearing any makeup, except for a thin layer of lip-gloss, which was fading quickly due to her licking her lips nervously while shuffling her feet with her favorite black and white plaid slip-ons. "How do I look?" Marissa smirked.

"Why are you asking me? You should know what I'm going to say." Mina pursed her lips together.

"I feel bad for leaving you here on your own..." She mumbled. Instead of her usual smirk, Marissa smiled kindly. She walked over and wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug.

"Don't worry about me." She whispered in her ear. She leaned back and kept her hands on her friends shoulders, looking into her eyes and smiling. "I'll just call Warren or Magenta." Mina smiled and walked back into her room, walking back out and slipping her Drivers' License in her left back pocket, and some money in her right back pocket. "I thought Lash said he would treat?"

"I'm still gonna try and talk him out of it." Marissa snorted.

"Like that's going to work." Mina shrugged and grinned.

"I'm still gonna try!" She laughed, turning and walking over to grab the doorknob, grabbing her black sweat jacket off of the coat-hanger on her way out. "I'll be back later!" She gasped in surprise and rushed over to the counter, where he cell phone was charging. She unplugged in and smiled bashfully, slipping it into the pocket of her jacket. "I'll call you when I'm about to come back, alright?" Marissa nodded and made a shooing gesture.

"Go get him, tiger!" She winked. "Make 'em beg." Mina blushed, but still laughed and nodded. As the door clicked shut behind her, Marissa shook her head with a small smile and walked over to the DVD shelf, trying to decide on a movie to watch.

* * *

Mina cut through the West park entrance since it was a shorter and more scenic route than walking along the busy sidewalks, looking down at her cellphone to check the time, snickering to herself as the tiny clock on its screen turned to '6:00' just as she looked at it. Shoving her cellphone back in her pocket, she got a drink from a water fountain before walking and sitting down on one of the benches, shuffling her feet nervously and looking around shyly, trying to find Lash. After a little bit, she checked her cellphone again, frowning when it read '6:10'.

"East park entrance, across from the Starbucks... six o' clock..." She murmured to herself. She looked directly across the street at the busy coffee shop with the familiar logo. "I'm at the right place..." She murmured, looking around once more. She folded her arms so that her hands were underneath her jacket and looked around once more before lowering her gaze to her feet, and stood there for a little while longer. She scuffed the toe of her shoe on the concrete, then lifted one of her arms and whipped her hair out of its ponytail with a frustrated groan. Snapping the hairtie around her wrist, she pulled out her cellphone once more and rolled her eyes when the clock read '6:20'. She started thinking of any reason that Lash would be late, or worse, stand her up. _'It's not daylight savings time, so he couldn't have forgotten to set his clocks back...'_ and that was the only plausible excuse that she could come up with.

And then she felt it. She would recognize that aura anywhere.

_'Lash.'_ She smiled to herself and turned to look at where she could sense the energy coming from, only for her eyes to widen in surprise.

Walking down the sidewalk towards her was Lash, as she had sensed. But walking beside him was a girl who Mina easily recognized. Hell, who could meet her and not recognize her later? With her long and slender legs, flat stomach, perfect chest, glowing complexion, flawless hair, high cheek bones, and... and... everything that she was.

Delia Jameson was every visually-oriented man's dream-come-true. Mina recognized her due to the fact that she was one of the girls who had contributed to her emotional pain her freshman year. She remembered that she and Lash and actually dated for about a week once, due to their common love of tormenting her. But Mina remembered that Delia's power was something akin to seduction... she could make any man lust after her. But then again, with a body like hers, she didn't need the power.

It was a good thing that Mina was aware of Delia's power, or else she would be thrown off by the waves of desire emanating from Lash. Had she been unaware of the kind of girl that Delia was, Mina would have glared at the two of them and then crossed the street to the park, which she could easily cut through to get home. And, naturally, she would swear to never trust Lash Livingston ever again, and assume that he was lying or acting whenever he sounded interested in her beyond appearence.

But Mina had a very good idea of what kind of girl Delia Jameson was, and she knew the best way to deal with girls like her. If she was right about her.

When the two supers were near her, Mina cleared her throat, which broke Delia's concentration and released Lash from whatever hold she had over him. Once Lash had snapped out of it, he appeared confused when he saw Mina standing in front of him, and then surprised when he looked to his left and saw Delia standing there.

"Hi, Lash!" She chimed cheerily, waving her hand slightly at the two of them and smiling. "I've been waiting forever for you," she stated before turning her gaze to Delia and smiling wider. "Lash didn't tell me he was bringing his sister-"

"I'm not his sister!" Delia cried incredulously. Mina smiled bashfully.

"Sorry, my mistake. Then you must go to school with us?" Lash was watching this exchange in confusion. He knew that Delia had been a bitch to Mina, so Mina couldn't possibly have forgotten... Right? He continued to watch as Mina extended her hand in a friendly gesture. "I'm Carrie. Carrie Sloane." Delia smirked at her extended hand and smirked slightly.

"I know who you are." She 'smiled' and extended her hand as well. "_Everybody_ at school knows who you are. I'm Delia Jameson." And as she said this, her slender hand barely touched Mina's before she tried to pull it back. But both Lash and Delia stared in shock when Mina's hand shot out and seized her wrist. Mina stared into the other girl's terrified eyes for a moment before showing sympathy.

"Very few people at the school know who I am." She started, staring dead-on into her eyes. "But they _have_ heard of me. Just as I've heard of you. But unlike _you_ knowing who _I_ am,_ I_ know _you_ are."

"What?" Delia used the same incredulous tone as she had earlier when Mina mistook her for Lash's sister, and stared at her in shock and confusion. "What do you mean?"

"On the surface," Mina started. "You don't care about anyone else. You're selfish and vain, and you think you're the best damn thing. You don't care about other people's feelings, you don't care about how many relationships and spirits you destroy, who you tear down just so that you can build yourself up..." She paused, and then lowered her voice so that it was soft and comforting, her eyes reflecting sympathy. "But I can see the real you. I can look deeper, peeling back the layers of makeup, scant clothing, promiscuity... And as beautiful as you are on the surface, I can see who's _really_ on the inside." Lash expected Mina to say something about her being ugly on the inside, like in those cliched teen drama movies and TV shows, but what he really saw shocked him.

Mina lifted Delia's now limp arm and released her wrist, now placing her hand between both of hers.

"I see a scared, lonely little girl who just wants to be loved." Delia stared down at the much shorter blonde girl in surprise, her eyes already watering, while Lash stood off to the side, his mouth hanging open in surprise. "This girl grew up way too fast because she felt so much pain growing up.

"She always blames herself for her father leaving when she was still in her mothers' womb, because her mother works all night when her daughter is there, and sleeps when she's gone.

"This girl, who feels like her family hates her because she was born out of wedlock, because her mother was only seventeen when she gave birth to her, and because she resembles her father in so many ways.

"She has eleven half-siblings, all by different mothers, and feels hated by every single one of them because she's the only one who got her fathers' power of influence over the opposite sex.

"The girl that I see is so desperate to experience the feeling of being loved, so she throws herself at men. But she's afraid of it too, only having these relationships last shortly before she ends them, because she's afraid that they'll end up hating her, too.

"She's confused and doesn't know the difference between want and love.

"But, most importantly..." Mina's voice had become thick with emotion as she spoke, her eyes slowly watering as she continued. As for Delia, tears had started leaking from her disbelieving eyes the second that Mina's eyes had started watering when she mentioned her father leaving. "I see a girl... who is so _insecure_, _lonely_, and _hurt _by the world around her, she can't wrap her mind around the fact that I _care_." Delia sobbed, squeezing her eyes shut and lowering her head.

The only thing that confused Lash more than the scene of a girl comforting her former tormentor, is the fact that nobody so much as spared a glance for them, _nobody_ noticed. And for the first time, Lash noticed something about the majority of their society.

Very few people, the blonde empath standing a few feet away being one of them, actually _cared_ about the people around them.


	21. Guy Night

_Love to **Firekitty08**, **Mandya1313**, **lalunafour**, **The Mayor's Daughter**, and **SilverMoon Gypsy**! For being the only people who reviewed... I love you guys. XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty**_

* * *

Lash was irate.

Very, _very_ irate.

"This _sucks_!" Lash mumbled, watching TV with Speed in his basement. Speed was being lazy on another sofa a few feet away in the small lounge area that was Lash's 'man-cave'. A sixteenth birthday present from his parents. Before the Royal Pain fiasco. He had been grounded from it for a month after that. That was probably one of the reasons that he had behaved himself. The other reason he would behave himself was also the reason he was irate.

Two hours earlier was when Mina did her freaky telepathy+empathy thing with Delia. Naturally, Mina believed that Delia couldn't possible walk herself home due to the fact that 'the poor girl' was practically blinded by tears. And Mina, being the good samaritan she is, decided to help her. But instead of taking her home, Mina decided to play 'spiritual healer' and take her someplace where they could help Delia 'feel loved'.

_Girls._

Lash was pretty much insanely pissed off at the world at the moment, mostly Delia, because he had genuinely _wanted_ to talk to Mina. He had risked his hard-earned freedom by hacking into the school secretary's computer when she was in the breakroom getting coffee... _just_ to get a girl's phone number. And then on his way to meet up with her, those weird butterflies growing in his stomach the closer it got to six o' clock, Delia stepped in front of him and decided to talk to him. And then she worked her fancy power on him and had him talk to her, tell her where he was going. He was lucky she didn't ask who he was going to meet up with, because then Mina's secret would have been blown.

But he didn't even have the _chance_ to talk to Mina. He wouldn't be able to ask her about that funny feeling in his stomach whenever she was around. He thought that it might have been a side-effect of her 'siphoning', since he had never experienced it before. And then he wanted to ask her what exactly she had done when she left, what she had done to gain mastery of her powers. And he couldn't get rid of the nagging question in the back of his mind: why was she so sympathetic and forgiving towards the people who had tormented her and made her life miserable, like him and Speed, and Delia?

He snapped out of his thoughts when a piece of popcorn hit him in the face.

"Yo, man. You zoned out for a minute there." Speed threw a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth and chewed for a moment, then swallowing and staring at his friend curiously. "What happened with you date with Mina, anyway? I thought you would have called me a lot later, and gush about her or some other pussy thing." Lash sighed and rolled his eyes. Shortly after Mina left the park with Delia, he had gone home early and called Speed, suggesting a guy night or something. Watch Quentin Tarantino movies and movies with hot girls in tight clothing, stuff like that. Speed was there in less than five minutes, despite him living about a twenty minute drive away. Speed had shown up and told Lash that his 'best-friend senses' had been tingling. However, as men, they did not discuss what happened. Instead, they went into the basement, Speed made popcorn, and Lash threw in _Resident Evil_, because they both thought that Milla Jovovich was hot.

Lash had been hoping that his friend wouldn't bring it up, instead leaving them to watch Milla Jovovich run around killing zombies.

"Delia cut me off." Speed winced and glanced over at his friend.

"Dude... is she still hung up on you?" Lash shook his head.

"Nah. She just has that complex where she likes ruining other people's relationships." Lash thought for a moment back to the exchange he had witnessed between Mina and Delia. "But I don't think she'll have that anymore."

"Why?" Speed asked, his voice muffled due to his mouth being full of popcorn, a few bits of it falling out when he spoke.

"Mina did her weird empathy thing... but she stuck it with her weird telepathy thing." Lash raised an eyebrow and glanced at his friend who snickered. "What?"

"You should call that telempathy or something." Lash also snickered at this random suggestion. "But, what did she do with it? Like, what happened?" Lash thought for a moment.

"Apparently, Delia has shit going on at home. She has some serious emotional crap, and Mina pretty much read her mind and narrated all of it to her. For some reason, hearing someone else say it must have done something because she was in tears after a few things that Mina said. And what really weirds me out..." Lash drifted off for a moment. "Is that Mina was so _nice_ through the whole thing. Like, she was showing _genuine sympathy_ for her. Hell, she started crying, too." Speed looked away from the TV screen where Milla had just woken up in the weird tube thing with her memories, and killed all of the bad dudes.

"_Why_?" His face contorted into a look of confusion, matching his incredulous tone. Lash shrugged, the two of them silent for the next few minutes until the movie ended.

"Dunno. Might involve the empathy." Speed was silent after that as the closing credits rolled down the screen. "What next?" Lash mumbled stretching his arm towards the remote on the coffee table, since he was too lazy to get up. Speed held up the empty bowl of popcorn, which Lash stretched toward and grabbed with his other arm and placed on the table.

"Dunno." Speed shrugged, stretching his arms out and folding them behind his head. "Pulp Fiction?" Lash nodded as he stretched his arms out and placed the previous DVD back in its case, then putting it on the shelf and scanning through the movies. When he found the suggested movie, he removed it from its case and placed it in the DVD player.

"Man, I am _so_ happy that they took off those power restraints." Speed laughed as the opening credits started on the screen, Lash laughing in agreement.

"I know. Then we would actually have to _get up_ and do it _ourselves_."

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_Such lazy, lazy boys... ah, well. What can you do? Anyway, REVIEW! XD_


	22. A Better Understanding

_Since I'm obviously not going to get more than four reviews, YOU OTHER READERS should be thanking these four for their reviews: **The Mayor's Daughter**, **Mandya1313**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, and **Firekitty08**! Hm... I'm noticing a pattern with my reviewers. But still, I LOVE ALL OF YOU!! Anyone who appreciates my story! _

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_**Chapter Twenty-One**_

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"You remember Delia Jameson?" Marissa looked up from the TV, surprised to see Mina back so early.

"Yeah...?" She paused a moment and then her face lit up with an evil grin. "Didn't I shank her once because she said something about your braces, and she was _commando_?" Mina smiled sadly as Marissa burst out laughing and nearly fell off of the couch as a result. Marissa's laughter slowed nervously and she sat up, looking at her friend suspiciously. "...What, did she steal Lash away from you or something?" Mina took off her hoodie and hung it on the coatrack, and then went over and sat down on the armrest of the sofa, due to Marissa being_ completely_ sprawled out across it.

"Well, I snapped him out of it-"

"That's good-"

"And then I did a scan of her emotions and I kinda sensed something... deeper. And then I opened my inner eye and saw her soul, and I saw that she was... I don't know." Mina was silent for a moment, lifting her eyes and staring into Marissa's. "When I let down my wall to sense her emotions, I exposed mine, and... I felt _empty_. I felt every emotion that she feels deep inside, and it's _painful_." Mina kicked off her shoes and turned so that her feet were on the couch and she was still sitting on the armrest. "I read her mind, Marissa. And as much of a bitch as she was to me, if you could have experienced the feeling that I got from her, then you would understand why I say that I can't be mad at her. Not anymore." Marissa hadn't looked at Mina the entire time, instead staring up at the ceiling, since her head wasn't on the armrest. Her expression was dead serious, until she sat up on her elbows and stared at her friend.

"So, what did you do?" Mina pursed her lips together for a moment before looking at her friend nervously.

"She's really insecure on the inside, and feels unloved. She feels empty, and alone, like no one cares..." She paused and Marissa's eyes lit up in surprise.

"You _didn't_... did you?" Mina nodded.

"I took her to a local church. I read a few of the psalms out of one of the bibles, and had her talk to the pastor. She cried a lot." Mina folded her hands on her knees and stared down at them. "And my wall was down the entire time, Marissa." Mina's voice became thick with emotion. "When she showed up with Lash, when I was reading her mind, when I walked along that sidewalk with her, when I was reading one of the psalms, when the pastor started talking to her... the whole time, my wall was _down_." Marissa sat up completely and buried her face in her hands, stressfully.

"Mina-" Said blonde sank down on the couch and dissolved in tears, making Marissa sigh and lean over to grip the back of her friends' neck. "Headache?" A nod was her only response, since Mina was too busy crying. Marissa sighed and stood up, leaving her friend momentarily to go get her some Tylenol PM.

As Marissa got the painkillers out of the cabinet and went to fill a cup with water, she moved very slowly due to her contemplating of her friend's actions.

As an empath, she was sensitive to other people's emotions. When Marissa revived her, that sensitivity only increased tenfold, giving her the ability to _see_ people's emotions as well as sense them. She could do the same with their soul, she just had to focus harder. And it was all difficult in the beginning. When Mina first developed that power, or it began to manifest itself after she woke up from sleeping about a week after 'the incident'. She kept talking about seeing people surrounded by colors, and how they would change drastically with some people. And she would complain constantly about all of the colors blinding her and giving her headaches. Lots of meditating and self-training later, she learned how to build up a type of 'wall' against the emotions and auras surrounding her. She continued training herself so that she could let down the wall around sensing emotions selectively.

And then 'something' happened **_(something that will not be revealed until much later in the storyline)_**, and Mina lost control of her empathy again because that 'something' eventually gave her too much to handle. And her headaches became worse. Marissa would go into her room at night because she was sobbing from the pain, sensing the emotions of every person in the building, all of them crushing into her mind painfully. All of the fatigue, frustration, homesickness... it affected her negatively. The aforementioned 'something' happened about five months after they got out of school due to 'the incident', and it took two months before Mina couldn't take the pain anymore. She left at the beginning of February, came back about two weeks into March. And she was _completely_ different.

She had better control over all of the abilities that she had gained after the 'something', and her empathy was as powerful as it was when she had mastered it. However, she still had headaches whenever she was exposed to others' emotions and auras for too long. And so, they were stocked up on painkillers.

As Marissa got the Tylenol PM for Mina, she thought about the 'something' that had happened and how it had effected Mina. Marissa wasn't cold to the mental bond that was the side-effect of her bringing Mina back to life, she did use it. And she was using it now, so she could sense her friends' pain, as well as her sympathy for Delia, and the sadness and emotional strife that she had absorbed for being exposed to her emotions for so long. It would take awhile for her to sleep it off.

Thank God for Tylenol PM.


	23. In An Empty Classroom

_FIVE REVIEWS!! XD **The Mayor's Daughter**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **tardislove**, **Firekitty08**, AND **Mandya1313**! I always want to thank you guys for reviewing! So... THANKS!! XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Two**_

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Mina was walking down the hall on the next Friday after the park thing with Delia, feeling a lot better than she had on the previous Friday when she got home. Hell, she had felt better by Monday. Although there had been two strange occurrences throughout the week: One, people were freaked out when Delia showed up at school in normal clothes, acting completely nice to everyone, and thanking Mina profusely. And second, Lash hadn't exactly spoken to her. She had caught him staring at her multiple times, and sometimes he would either look surprised and look away, or he would smirk and wink. Once, he eve blew her a kiss! She could sense that he was waiting for something, but she didn't know what...

She had just left a class that she had with Speed and was walking down the hall to her next class, which she had with both former delinquents. While walking down a relatively deserted hallway, thinking about how she couldn't wait to get home, she heard a door click. She froze and looked around suspiciously, carefully letting down her wall a fraction, sensing for any suspicious energy. And she smirked when she recognized the aura she sensed, and turned around to face it. However, a long arm stretched out of one of the doors and wrapped around her waist, dragging her forcefully into the classroom. She gasped in shock when the door closed behind her and she was shoved against a wall. Her books dropped at her feet as the arms shortened themselves, releasing her arms. She looked up in surprise at Lash, who gripped her hips tightly once his arms were back to their regular length, and pressed herself against the wall.

"What the hell, Lash?" She blurted out, glaring at him.

"I wanted to talk to you." He smirked, squeezing her hips and stepping closer. "Y'know, you ditched me for Delia last Friday... Speaking of which, what the fuck was up with that?" Mina glared at him harder.

"It's an empath thing. Now, let me go so we can get to class!" His smirk disappeared and he stepped even closer, his body now a few inches away from hers.

"No." He answered, now pressing his body against hers entirely. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she lowered her eyes to his chest, and then they widened in surprise.

"Holy shi-" Her exclamation of surprise was cut short when Lash's head shot down and covered her mouth completely with his. Out of reflex, Mina's hands shot up and locked onto his shoulders, trying to push him away, but he was stronger. Instead, he wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, forcing her hands to slide down and grip his uppers arms. The hand that Lash had on her hip drifted up, moving up her side until he could grip the back of her neck, pulling her face closer to his. He slowly pulled away from her after a moment, barely an inch, so that the two of them could breath. Mina's eyes were wide with shock, and Lash now had a giant smirk on his face. "What... The... _Fuck_?" Mina's chest heaved, now moving her hands to his chest and trying to push him away again.

"I've wanted to do that for awhile, now." He said, his breathing still a lot easier than hers. Probably because he was _expecting_ it.

"I_ know _you've wanted to do it for awhile now!" Mina was still breathing heavily in surprise, her heart thundering in her chest. "But I never thought you'd have the balls to _do_ anything!" Lash frowned and glared, slipping his one hand under her shirt so that he could press it against her lower back, and burying the other in her hair.

"Well, I guess I do." He growled, dipping his head down again to press his lips against hers. But, she turned her head, and Lash's lips instead connected with her jawbone. He hesitated, but smirked all the same, and then proceeded to trail kisses along her neck, smirking against her skin when he felt chills run down her spine. Her breathing was becoming heavier, and Lash knew he was winning whatever battle it was that they were fighting. He knew that he just had to find that one spot and she would be _putty _in his hands...

"Lash..." She gasped out his name, obviously fighting back a moan. "Lash, I... I can't do this-" Lash grabbed the back of her head and forcefully turned her face towards his so that he could glare angrily into her eyes.

"_Why_? _Why_ can't you do this?" She was breathing heavily, and Lash fought back a smirk at her glazed over, half-lidded eyes.

"M-my a-assignment..." She stuttered, now dropping her arms to her sides and stiffening. Lash was silent for a moment, then stroking the back of her neck slowly and moving his face towards her neck.

"You're supposed to keep an eye on me right? Be around me at _all_ times?" He whispered in her ear, his hot breath sending chills down her spine. She nodded slowly, her cheek brushing against his. "Well then, we're perfectly _fine_." He chuckled hoarsely before immediately burying his face in her neck and attacking it with his mouth. Mina was gripping his sides tightly, trying not to collapse, and trying to fight back any reaction she might have to him. Meanwhile, Lash was exploring every bit of her neck, even pulling down the collar of her shirt so that he could suck on her collarbone, trying to find her weak spot. He dug his nails into her back and starting weaving his fingers through her hair when she continued to fight back any reaction to him, no moaning, no arching back, _nothing_.

And he heard it, a small noise in his ear.

As his tongue passed over a spot near her jawbone, she had gasped and let out a noise that was something of a cross between a gasp, a squeak, and a moan. He froze, his lips turning upward in a smirk before he covered that spot with his mouth and started to attack it. To his satisfaction, Mina's breathing became even heavier, and she continued making sounds as if she was fighting against every part of her body to not show any pleasure at this, as well as squirming a little bit. Wanting more a reaction out of her, he finally sank his teeth into that spot, and shivered when a loud moan emitted from Mina's mouth.

"_Now_, we're getting _getting_ somewhere." He whispered in her ear, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking her face towards his and planting his lips against hers, plunging his tongue into her mouth before she had a chance to close her lips. And it seemed that after the first moan, Mina melted against him, kissing him back hungrily, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her hands in his hair, breathing heavily and moaning softly, and even going to far as to pull him back when they parted lips, or even attacking _his_ neck with _her_ lips.

The two didn't know how long they had been in the abandoned classroom, and they ignored any and all of the bells, which would be alerting them to the start and end of classes. They had no idea what was happening around them, until a loud noise erupted from Mina's bag.

Mina jumped away from Lash, who turned and stared incredulously at the bag.

"Is that... Is that _Mariachi music_?" His voice was incredulous as Mina stepped away from him hurriedly and dug through her bag, grabbing her cellphone.

"It was one of the ringtones that came with it!" She snapped at him, her face flushed. "Hel-" She winced and held the phone away from her ear a little bit, and Lash could hear the yelling on the other end. She listened for a few moments before frowning and nodding. "_Alright_, Marissa, I _get_ it. I'll be right there." She hung up and gathered her things hurriedly before walking towards the door, grabbing the doorknob and holding the door open for Lash. "The buses leave in ten minutes." Lash winced as she glared at him.

"...Oops."

"_Oops_?" She snapped. She sighed heavily and buried her face in one hand. "We've practically been fucking with clothes on for three class periods..." She mumbled to herself before walking out the door. Lash stood there for a moment, grinning stupidly before running out after her. He was walking beside her in no time, a self-indulgent smirk on his face. "Will you stop being so... so..." She pursed her lips together and tried walking faster, not even looking at Lash. Lash continued smiling, instead lengthening his strides so that he could continue to walk beside her. As soon as they reached the front of the school, Lash's arm shot out and grabbed Mina's before she could walk over to the bus where Marissa stood impatiently.

"I'll call you later." He stated, ignoring her glare. She was about to turn and walk away, but he tightened his grip and pulled her closer.

"What?" She snapped at him, whirling around before he had a chance to say anything. He smirked and stepped closer, leaning over and pushing away some of her hair.

"Two things." He smirked, holding up two fingers. He then leaned over, his lips hovering inches away from her ear. "First, that hickey looks nice on you." He whispered, his voice low, and his hot breathe cascading over her skin. Mina gasped in shock, her eyes widening in horror as her arm shot up and covered the spot that he had attacked with his mouth earlier. He chuckled and dragged his fingertips down her arm. "And second, I _love_ the way you moan." His voice became quieter, lower, and hoarse when he said this, and Mina gasped softly, her eyes becoming even wider. He smirked and pressed a kiss against her temple before standing up straight and smirking at her, giving her a small wave before walking away. Mina watched him walk away in shock before whipping her hair out of its ponytail and draping it over her shoulder in an attempt to hide the hickey he had mentioned. Once she reached Marissa's side, her friend stared at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What was _that_ about?" Mina winced and got on the bus.

"_Please_... don't ask."


	24. A Walk In The Park

_My love to **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **lalunafour**, **Mandya1313**, and **Firekitty08**! I know it's only four people who reviewed, but I've realized that I don't care anymore! XD I believe that all of you deserve an update!_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Three**_

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Warren really didn't want to go home. His mom had yelled at him that morning for using his powers in the house, saying that he could have set off the alarms, and that she didn't want to explain that to the fire squad. And when he had stated calmly that she was overreacting, she freaked out even more, even yelling out after him as he left the house about how he should clean his room as well. And then she freaked out even _more_ when he asked her when she started caring.

He had spent his time pondering over this situation throughout lunch, ignoring his 'friends' by pretending to read. He came to the conclusion that his mother had started menopause, and he wanted to prolong his arrival home so that she might be asleep when he arrived.

And he was using his powers that morning because he wanted to warm up a piece of _toast_.

_'God forbid I ever meet a woman who's even remotely sane,'_ he thought to himself sarcastically as the door to the Paper Lantern fell shut behind him. He thought to Layla and Magenta, the hippie and the goth chick. Both annoying. His own mother annoyed him, and he loved her all the same. Even despite her drastic changes in behavior towards him; ignoring him, then being angry at him, and then being the loving mother that he wished she could me all of the time. And then his train of thought went off-rail because he started thinking about his father, who she had told him he looked exactly like. He looked in the direction of the parking garage where he always left his car, but hesitated when he saw a figure that was a few inches shorter than him with long, black hair facing away from him, looking in the direction that he was going. He walked closer, trying to be as discrete as possible, but hesitated when he was closer. "...Marissa?" She turned around slowly and smiled nervously at Warren.

"Hey, War..." She mumbled, glancing across the street towards the wall that surrounded the park.

"What are you doing here?" She shifted nervously, uncrossing her arms and shoving them in her pockets.

"Something's going on with Mina." She blurted out. "And she won't talk to me about it... I just... I want to talk to someone, and you're the only person aside from her that I can trust to listen. Or someone who can at least talk to me and have me think about something else so that I don't worry as much..." Marissa had lowered her head towards the ground in embarrassment, her hair hanging in front of her face. Warren took that as an opportunity to look up at the sky and thank God for a distraction so that he didn't have to go home right away.

"I could use someone to talk to, myself." He sighed, and Marissa looked up and smiled at him. "Let's do what we did last time and just go for a walk in the park."

"So, any idea what's going on?" Marissa sighed at Warren's question as they sat down on the bench where they had talked last.

"I know that it involves Lash." Warren raised an eyebrow.

"Lash?" Marissa nodded.

"She missed her final _three_ class periods of the day, and Lash was missing, too. I know they were together, because Mina didn't show up before me at the buses... she _always_ shows up before me, so I got worried and called her cellphone. She came out of the school shortly after that, and Lash was with her. When she was walking towards me, Lash grabbed her and whispered something in her ear, and then she got all surprised... and when I asked her about it, she just said 'nothing' and said she didn't want to talk about it." Marissa sighed and ran one of her hands through her hair. "What about you?" Warren also sighed and shook his head.

"My mom has been acting even crazier than usual, with more mood swings than I'm already accustomed to. Which leads me to believe she's started menopause." It was probably the nonchalant manner that he said this, with hardly any hint of humor, but Marissa laughed softly.

"My mom has to deal with my dad, so she's surprisingly patient when it comes to me." Marissa's voice softened, and Marissa glanced to see her looking ahead with that look on her face. He sighed and draped his arm over her shoulders, making her smile and her cheeks flush.

"Let's talk about something else." Marissa thought for a moment, then her eyes drifted to his arm that was still hanging around her shoulders.

"You're different." He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" Marissa crossed her arms, unconsciously leaning a bit closer to him.

"Well..." She thought for a moment. "When we were freshman... you knew I existed. And I thought that was about it. I mean, I know that I was really discrete with my crush on you, because of the look on your face the day that I told you." She smiled nervously and her cheeks flushed. "I think you're surprise was the most emotion you had shown the entire year." Warren also smiled slightly. "But... It's like, we talked, and we were civilized towards each other. We did a few projects together without killing each other, and I think that's about as far as our 'friendship' went, if you could even call it that." Marissa tilted her head to look up at him. "And now... you're different. You knew who I was when no one else did, you've become one of the people who I trust completely, you seem to smile at me a lot more. When we were freshman, you used to acknowledge my existence by nodding." She tilted her head to the side. "What happened?" Warren was silent for a moment, obviously contemplating her words.

"To you, I wasn't Baron Battle's son." He started. "I was Warren. You gave me my space, unlike all of the other girls who would practically suffocate me because I was a 'bad boy'." Marissa snickered at the sarcasm he used with those words. "I guess... I guess that I considered you a friend, but not really a close friend. And when you told me you liked me, it caught me off guard. I didn't really know, because you didn't make it obvious. That was something else that I found interesting. And..." He drifted off, his voice becoming quieter. "You weren't afraid of me." Marissa smirked.

"Warren..." He looked down at her. "I've seen things that are a lot scarier than you. Trust me." Warren smirked and chuckled, looking down at her.

"Oh, really? Like what?" Marissa smiled nervously and lowered her gaze to the ground again.

"I don't think I can tell you yet." A warm, calloused hand tilted her chin upward, until she was staring into Warren's eyes.

"I don't mind that." He whispered, his voice soft. He pulled her against him, and Marissa flushed when her hands fell on his chest and she could feel his heartbeat beneath her hands. He lifted one hand and brushed her hair out of her face, pushing it behind her ears. "You have such a beautiful face, I don't see why you hide it behind your hair." He smiled at her and she fought back a goofy smile, her face flushing an even darker shade of red.

"Warren, you're acting different..." She whispered. He placed his hand on her cheek and tilted her face towards his, lowering his lips until they were inches apart.

"I like you." He whispered, his voice creating a low rumble in his chest. "And I don't know what to do when there are people around." He smirked. "They bother me." Marissa smiled bashfully, chuckling slightly as his simple statement.

"I understand that completely." He rested his forehead against hers, and it was amazing that he couldn't hear her thundering heartbeat.

"Yeah..." He smiled, his thumb stroking her face, his lips still dangerously close to hers. "And now there's no one to interrupt or bother us-"

"Oh, yeah? What about me?" A gruff voice asked behind him before yanking the two of them apart. Marissa gasped in horror when she looked up at the one who was holding her by her upper arm. Warren had been thrown through the air, but due to all of his practice in gym, he managed to land on his feet, only stumbling a little bit. When he finally regained his balance, he growled angrily and lit his arm on fire, holding it out to see who had _dared_ to rip them apart so violently. When the light from his fire was cast on the 'person', he gasped in shock.

Standing a few feet away from him, holding onto Marissa's arm, was a man who stood about 6' 5" with broad shoulders and a very muscular body. His head was pretty much bald, but he still had black hair in the back pulled into a bun, with his hair still extending down the sides of his face in black sideburns. His tight black shirt showed that he had a barrel chest, but his tan trenchcoat hid his arms, so Warren couldn't exactly see if he had bulging arms, too. The belt holding up his black pants had a tan belt which had a gun holster hanging on each side, each one with a gun already in it.

Oh, yeah... and he had two strange stumps on his forehead... which could have been sawed down horns.

And red skin.

And he could see that this devilish looking man was glaring at him viciously with yellow eyes. Warren put up his usual 'pissed off' look, but two words were running through his mind.

_'Oh, **shit**.'_

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_I'm sorry if Warren appears 'out of character', but I just think it's... 'nice' to give him a soft side! And keep in mind all of the nice, cutesy-wutesy things he said to Marissa! XD_


	25. An Argument In The Park

_LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! XD Holy crap, five reviews! Yes, I was planning on posting with the first four reviews in the first place, but my computer was being stupid... and then when it wasn't being stupid anymore, so I checked my email, and __VOILAH! A FIFTH REVIEW!! So, today I shall dedicate my love to **HollowSerenity**,** The Mayor's Daughter**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **Mandya1313**, and **Applene**! Thank you my lovelies! :D_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Four**_

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Warren stared in shock at the monster standing a few feet away from him with a protective hold on Marissa's arm. Whatever he was, he let go of Marissa's arm and stepped in front of her, then reaching into his pocket for something. Warren tensed up and got ready to burst into fire at any moment, but the thing pulled a cigar and a lighter out of his pocket, placing the upper-class cancer-stick between his lips and lighting it. He shoved his lighter back in his pocket and inhaled deeply, breathing out the smoke and glaring at Warren with yellow eyes.

"I've been watching you kid, and I know what you can do. So take my advice when I say you shouldn't do it." Warren glared at him and set his arms on fire, which only caused the red-skinned man to raise an eyebrow. "Ooh, scary. My wife does that." Warren snorted.

"You're married? To who?" The man bared his teeth and growled angrily, reaching under his trenchcoat towards one of his guns.

"Stop!" They both turned their heads and looked at Marissa, who no longer showed any surprise at the sight of the strange man. Instead, her eyes were alight with fury.

"Y'know, you look just like your mother right now..." he said to her, which made her glare harder and stalk past him, walking over and standing in front of Warren before crossing her arms.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're _doing_?" She snarled at him.

"Yep." He sighed, taking another drag from his cigar. "_Exactly_ like your mother."

"I asked you a question!" He sighed, breathing out the smoke.

"Keeping an eye on you." Warren had been watching the exchange with mild curiosity, but jumped in surprise when Marissa's entire body suddenly became consumed with fire.

"You haven't even_ looked_ at me in _five fucking years_! What gives you the right to just _barge over_ and _interrupt_ something like that?" She snarled, her entire body tensing and the flames growing as her anger level increased, along with a Jersey accent.

"More and more like your mother with every passing second. It's starting to scare me." He shoved his free hand in his pocket. "But since you're _not_ your mother, I would get mad at you for using that tone with me if you weren't right." Warren tensed when he came to a realization.

"Marissa?" She gasped softly and her flames extinguished immediately, before she turned to Warren with fear and worry in her eyes.

"Oh my God, Warren... I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out like this-"

"Marissa." She stopped immediately and bit her lip. "Is this your father?" Marissa was silent, lowering her gaze to the ground. She didn't move for a second, but then her head bobbed up and down a few times. Warren looked between the two, noticing that her father hadn't moved, not even taking another drag from his still-smoking cigar.

"I didn't know how to tell you." She said softly. "Only a few guys have ever found out, and they all freaked and ran away." She lifted her eyes to his. "And I didn't want you to do that, too." Warren shifted nervously.

"I can see why." Marissa flinched and he could hear her father growl off to the side, as a warning. "Marissa, I trust you." She gasped softly and looked up at him, her eyes wide. "And I know there are more things that you want to tell me, but you don't know how to tell me just yet, and I can accept that." Her face lit up with a smile, but it vanished when his arm lit up with fire. "Now, let me do this really quick-" He yelled with anger and spun around, chucking a ball of fire at the older man. The ball of fire hit him in the face, but he didn't flinch. When the smoke died down, his fingers were still in front of his face where he had been holding his cigar, but now there was a bit of ash clinging to his hand, and the cigar was gone. "Where the _hell_ do you get off doing that?" He snarled at him. "You haven't talked to her in _five years_, you haven't said _anything_ to her, and then you decide to jump out of nowhere and try to be the overprotective father that you used to be, expecting that she'll be daddy's little girl again? _What the hell_?" He snarled, relaxing when Marissa grabbed his arm, but still glaring at her father. He raised his hand slowly and pointed at Warren, his yellow eyes still narrowed dangerously.

"I would walk over there and snap you like a twig, punk." He growled, but then lowered his arm. "But you're right, I did screw up." He sighed and his glare faded, into a sad and regretful look. "And I'm sorry, Marissa, but..." He hesitated and eyed Warren. "But, that's something that's strictly a father-daughter conversation." Marissa turned and looked up at Warren.

"Warren, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." He told her. "I should get home anyway."

"Can I walk you to your car?" She offered. Warren paused a moment, glancing at her father. She saw where his eyes went and looked back at him. "He won't follow us." She turned and glared at him. "At least, he'd _better_ not." He held up his hands and sighed.

"Fine, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." He turned to walk back into the trees, but hesitated and looked over his shoulder at Warren. "But don't try any funny stuff, hotshot." With that, he jumped up and disappeared into the trees.

* * *

"Warren, I'm so sorry." Marissa whispered as they walked down the sidewalk, nearing the parking garage. Warren shook his head.

"Don't worry. I can understand completely why you don't tell anyone about your father." Marissa lowered her head again, watching her feet. "Marissa?"

"It's not that I don't tell anyone about my father... My reasons for keeping it a secret is because of _who_ he is." Warren raised an eyebrow. "I like to say that he was the National Enquirer poster-child before I was born. And he started back up again when I was around ten. Y'know, when I first got that power from him?" Warren froze in mid-step, thinking back to every National Enquirer-related story he had ever heard. Seven years ago, seven years ago...

And then it hit him.

"You're father is _Hellboy_?"

* * *

_Yes, some people found it 'curious' that I put Hellboy in my story (The Mayor's Daughter(I love her stories... LASHMYKFOREVER! XD))... And I will say quickly: I am obsessed with the Hellboy movies. Hell, I would be obsessed with the comics if there weren't so many! Hellboy is my favorite comic hero! Hell, someday if I have a job that accepts tattoos and I can take the pain, I'm planning on dedicating an arm to characters from Hellboy! That's how obsessed I am with it! _

_Oh, yeah... and I have a cool storyline that can fit in with this. Something else you guys might want to know is that sometimes I'm in the middle of a story and I suddenly have many realizations that I either a) screwed something up and ideas that I b) should have done but didn't, so I try to find some way to work them in... I also try to fix certain mistakes in secretive ways... I have yet to show what I mean about 'b', but you'll find out soon. Brownie points to whoever spots it first when I actually do it! XD_


	26. Daddy's Little Girl Again

_OHMIGOSH!! So many people to thank!! **The Mayor's Daughter**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **HollowSerenity**, and **Mandya1313** for their REVIEWS... And I want to send my profuse love to **Miss-Paparella** for adding me/my story to... everything. And her kind review. XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Five**_

* * *

Marissa hadn't spoken to Warren Peace in more than two years before the start of the year. And even before then they hardly spoke. But in hardly two months she had already grown attached to her fellow pyrokinetic.

And after he had driven away, back to the suburban home he shared with his mother, Marissa realized something as he drove away.

She was pretty sure she had already fallen in love with him.

He had found out one of her deepest secrets: She was the daughter of Hellboy. And yet, he didn't seem to care. After she assured him that he wouldn't be maimed by the 'National Enquirer poster-child', he swore that he wouldn't tell anyone.

"There's more I want you to know, Warren..." She whispered as they stood in front of his car. "But I don't think I'm ready to tell you yet." He nodded.

"Is it as shocking as who your father is?" Marissa nodded. "Then all you have to do is warn me, and I'll be fine." He smiled, making her smile in return while trying not to swoon. They had said their goodbyes, which were kind of awkward because they were both pretty sure that Hellboy was still watching them.

And all Marissa could think about as she walked down the deserted sidewalks was how gorgeous Warren's smile was. And she felt pride swelling inside of her at the thought that she was one of the few people who could get a smile out of the usually quiet loner.

Sadly, she was drawn out of her happy thoughts by the sound of something hitting concrete above her head. She looked up at the rooftops and frowned when caught a glimpse of a shadow darting away from the edge.

"I know that you're up there, so you might as well stop hiding." She called out. She heard a faint sight, and then retreating footsteps, followed by someone using the fire escape in the alley she was standing in front of. Then she heard someone grunt as they jumped off of the fire escape and land on the ground beneath it. She crossed her arms and waited impatiently as her father emerged from the shadows, rubbing the back of his head.

"Marissa-"

"Save it!" She snapped. "I was having a really nice moment with him, and you just _interrupted_ it! What the _hell_? You have had _nothing_ to do with my life for _five years _and then you decide that _now_, of _all _times, you'll be the overprotective father you _used _to be?" He winced and groaned, obviously frustrated.

"Look, I'm _sorry_-"

"_Why_?" Marissa's anger was now replaced with sadness. "Why are you sorry _now_? Why haven't you been sorry at any one of my birthday parties since I turned _thirteen_? Why didn't you forgive me all of the times I tried to apologize and swear that I would never disobey you again? Why didn't you ever show that you cared when I came home with straight A's, hoping that you would be proud enough of me to come out of your damn room and_ look_ at me? Why haven't you ever shown any consideration towards all of the cards, safety charms, and all of the other shit that I've given you for every Christmas, Father's Day, and birthday, regardless of whether or not you had spoken to me in 'X' amount of time, and never knowing if you ever even got any of it? Why is _now _so different?" She was practically hysterical at this point, tears falling down her face. Hellboy was obviously uncomfortable, unaccustomed to dealing with an emotional teenage girl.

"It's not that I didn't want to forgive you, hun..." he sighed, shifting his gaze to the side. "It's kinda... Well, Abe says that I just can't forgive myself, whatever the hell that means..." Marissa sniffed, and Hellboy took a few steps towards her. "See, when you first got your powers... I was afraid you would go through what I had to go through. Never being able to be seen, never being appreciated for all of the things I did because of what I looked like. You don't know how relieved I was when you could change back and forth. But still, I knew that it was in you, and I was afraid you would blame me for what you were... eh, for what you are." Marissa sniffed again and crossed her arms.

"I wouldn't hate you, dad." His ears perked up when she called him 'dad'. "Hell, I was proud. You were my _hero_. Even before I could change, I still wanted to be just like you. I was a little girl who was naive to the world and how people reacted to appearance. I just thought you were so _cool_." She lowered her gaze to the ground.

"Marissa, even though you were saving my life, I still saw you as being in danger, and..." Hellboy sighed and rubbed his head again, stepping forward and reaching one arm out, awkwardly pulling his daughter into a fatherly embrace. "And I was afraid you'd get hurt. You were just a little girl, and no matter what you look like, I still see your mother in you. And just like your mother, I still don't want anything to happen to you." Marissa sniffed against her father's chest, her eyes watering again. "And don't think I haven't cared, because I have." Marissa perked up, obviously listening. "I've saved everything you've ever left me, I have videos of every party and holiday I've ever missed, and I have every single one of your report cards. Hell, I have your brother's, too." He pulled away and held her at arms' length, keeping his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes. "I've been around, Marissa. But I was so afraid you were mad at me because of the way I reacted that night, I've just decided to stick in the background. And even when you tried to apologize to me, I was too ashamed of myself, because I felt like I had failed as a father."

"You didn't fail as a father." She sniffed, her voice growing heavy as she fought back tears. "I know you, dad. I know that you get angry, I know that you cared, and I know that it's your way of dealing with things, sometimes." He smirked.

"Abe told you that, didn't he?" Marissa smiled and nodded. "Ah, c'mere!" He laughed and yanked her into a bear hug, lifting her a few inches off of the ground and swinging her back and forth in his arms. "My little girl..." He sighed, setting her down on her feet. Marissa clung onto him in the same way she had when she was very tiny, a little girl begging her daddy to scare away any and all monsters that might try to eat her.

"I missed you, daddy." She said softly, a few tears falling from her eyes and onto her father's shirt.

"I missed you too, Little Miss." Marissa smiled at the nickname he had called her for as long as she could remember. "Now, I need to walk you home. It's late, so I know that your mother is probably gonna try and set me on fire. However, we're taking _my_ way back." He ended up taking her up the fire-escape, and going as far as possible by way of 'roof-hopping'. As the father and daughter flew through the air between buildings, Marissa smiled to herself.

She was daddy's little girl again.


	27. Just Like Old Times

_Hey, guys! I'm really sorry that I took so long to update! My computer has been acting all funky... Anyway, a quick thanks to **hexgurl001**, **Mandya1313**, and **SilverMoon Gypsy**! But I need to respond to a couple reviews..._

_Miss-Paparella: I'm glad you like more story, and it's even better that you've seen the movie! Hellboy is the shit. I'm obsessed with Hellboy. And I'm positive you'll love the sequel, it's kickass. XD_

_The Mayor's Daughter: Only time will tell, my dear reader! Only time will tell... I can't review the whole plot just yet. :D_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Six**_

* * *

Marissa stared at the box sitting on the bed in front of her with tears in her eyes. Mina stood beside her, looking at it in surprise.

"...Wow." Was all she could say as Marissa sniffed and smiled.

Sitting on the bed was a box that was practically overflowing with cards with varying words on them (like 'happy father's day!', 'happy birthday!', and 'Merry Christmas!'), a few other pieces of paper which were obviously report cards, all of them covered in A's, and along with a few assorted trinkets, obviously handmade protection and good-luck charms.

"Yeah, and this is just _your_ box." Liz smiled at her daughter, who smiled slowly, obviously touched that her father had indeed saved everything that she had given him or earned over their five-year, non-speaking period.

It was then that a yell of 'found it!' came from a closet that was out of sight, and Hellboy walked into view, carrying a small box filled with videotapes. He set it down on the bed beside the box filled with Marissa's things, and pulled out a videotape. He paused and flashed the front of it at the girls, so that they could read '16th birthday party' scrawled across it in Hellboy's messy handwriting. He then walked over to the large wall of TV's and placed it into a VCR, hitting the play button and grabbing the remote.

_"Mine first! Mine first!" Mina was yelling, off-screen. Marissa and a boy who looked a lot like her were laughing, each tugging a small package out of the huge stack of boxes and bags, the boy down at his and smirked at Mina._

_"DVD's, Mina?" The blonde could be heard laughing, until Marissa ripped the wrapping from hers, smiling and letting out a squeal._

_ "Oh my God! Zoolander!" She held it up to the camera, smiling. "We are totally watching this after we eat cake!" Laughter could be heard as a girl who looked like a teenager, but with pure white skin and hair, and solid black eyes, appeared behind her, looking at the DVD curiously, then furrowing her white eyebrows._

_"Who the hell is Ben Stiller?" She asked, confused._

Marissa watched as the tape continued to play, until her father's hand fell on her shoulder.

"I'm proud to say I'm actually going to be there to tape your 18th birthday party in November." He smiled down at her in pride before turning to Liz. "I know I'm a big surprise for her, but what about her other surprise?" Liz smiled at both of the girls as there was a knocking at the large metal door. "I'm amazed, perfect timing..." The door made it's usual noise as it opened, a teenage guy stepping in nervously, tugging at his Iron Maiden t-shirt. His jet black hair was bone-straight (like Marissa's), and just barely brushing his shoulders, but his hair still hung in his light blue eyes (kinda like Marissa's). He was obviously a bit taller than Marissa, but he was just as skinny, and pale.

"Am I on time?" He asked innocently, his wide blue eyes lighting up at the sight of Mina and Marissa. "Hey, girls!"

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE_!!" Liz and Hellboy clapped their hands over their ears and winced as both girls shrieked in absolute joy, rushing the boy and tackling him to the ground. The parents smiled at each other, a knowing look in their eyes and the girls clung onto each side of the boy.

* * *

"I'm glad to see you missed me." He smiled cutely as he fell back onto the couch, his eyes glittering as Mina jumped down beside him, grinning at him.

"Marcus, I can't believe that you're here!" She laughed. He shrugged, still smiling.

"Well, Dad is here. What, you thought he'd leave me back in Newark?" Mina and Marissa shared a look, which made Liz giggle and Hellboy frown.

"Hey, I may have screwed up once, but I'm working on it!" He declared, pointing at them with his stone hand. They were all silent for a moment before looking up each other and giggling.

"So, how is my baby brother?" Marissa teased, sitting down on the armrest on the opposite side of her brother.

"Seven minutes!" He glared at her indignantly.

"I'm still older than you." She smirked slowly. "And I got all of the luck in the 'special' department." She smirked as Marcus crossed his arms and glared across the room.

"Oh, you're special alright..." He mumbled, sending Mina into a giggle-fit, and leading Marissa to glare and smack him in the back of the head. "Hey!"

"Respect my authoritah!"

"You need to watch less South Park!"

"You need to get a date!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Liz sighed, shaking her head at her children, and Mina scooted away when she saw tiny flames appearing at Marissa's fingertips.

However, Hellboy appeared behind them and seized them by the back of their shirts, Mina and Liz giggling when they both cried 'hey!' in unison, looking up at their father.

"You're never too old to get a hard spanking," he told them. "With my _right_ hand." Marcus gaped at him, and Marissa smirked at her brother out of the corner of her eye.

"That's not fair!" He cried, pointing at her. "You've never spanked her! She just does her little 'I'm daddy's little girl' thing and you don't do jack!" He crossed his arms and looked up at his father, not noticing Marissa fighting back a smirk.

"Liar!" She accused. Naturally, this sent them into another argument. Hellboy sent a pleading look at Liz as if saying 'where did we go wrong?', making the other two women in the room giggle.

"Just like old times." Liz told Mina.

"They've been like this before?" Liz looked sad for a moment, but smiled again.

"They were always like this when they were a lot smaller." Mina giggled.

"I've seen them bicker, but for some reasons I find it funnier when Hellboy is dangling them off of the ground by the back of their shirts." Liz nodded in agreement.

"Especially since their both almost eighteen."

"Yeah, that adds to the humor of it." Mina smiled as the two continued to bicker, until Hellboy jerked them together so that their heads hit each others'.

"Both of you, _shaddup_!" He snapped at the two of them. They both huffed and crossed their arms, pouting in a way that made it even more obvious that they were twins than before.


	28. Alarming Dreams

**I have decided that I have been a lazy bitch long enough... And I only got THREE FRICKING REVIEWS. So, thanks to my ever-dedicated reviewers: _Firekitty08_, _SilverMoon Gypsy_, and _Miss-Paparella_. I love you all, and I'm sorry that I haven't updated in so long!**

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Seven**_

* * *

_He breathed heavily, his eyes glazed over as she kissed his neck slowly, trailing kisses down his bare chest and stomach. He dug his nails into the bed when she breathed over his stomach, and tugged at the hemline of his pants with her teeth, giggling when he groaned, anticipating what any teenage male would want._

_She undid his belt and tossed it across the room, smirking at him sexily all the while, and then started undoing his pants, painfully slow. He sat up on his elbows when she had undone his pants, staring in disappointed surprise when she giggled and leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. _

_He growled and threw her onto her back, getting on top of her and yanking her shirt over her head, then pressing his lips to her neck and attacking viciously with his tongue and teeth. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, her heavy breathing echoing in his ears and driving him insane. She buried one hand in his hair, and dragged the other one down his back, raking her nails across his skin, driving him over the edge._

_"**Mina...**"  
_

_And it drove him even crazier as her voice moaned his name..._

_"Oh, Lash..." She gasped when he bit down on her 'weak spot'. "**Lash...**__" She moaned again, arching against him. And then she stopped saying his name with pleasure. More like she was trying to get his attention... "Lash. Lash. **Lash**!"_

* * *

Lash shot up in bed, gasping heavily as he clutched onto his blanket. He looked around wildly, his dark brown hair flying around his face as he did so. He sighed heavily, in obvious disappointment when he realized that he was not in his bedroom with Mina, but instead in a sleeping bag on Speed's bedroom floor.

And Speed had been trying to get his attention.

"Lash, man, what the hell?" His friend blurted out, smirking lecherously. "I'm fine with you having sex dreams and all, it's part of being a guy! But do me a favor and have 'em at your own place!" He burst out laughing, making Lash furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Speed, dude... what the hell are you talking about?" He mumbled, wiping a hand down his sweaty face, pushing some tendrils of dark brown hair out of his eyes. His best friend snickered and smirked.

"Dude, you were writhing around in your sleeping bag, moaning Mina's name." He snorted, obviously fighting back hysteric laughter. "Sounded like the two of you were having a lot of fun!" And then he let loose his laughter, falling off of his bed. Lash glared at his best friend, who was collapsed on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.

"Aw, shut up." He grunted, standing up and walking over to a chair that Speed had in his room, grabbing his backpack, which contained his clothes and other bathroom stuff; toothbrush, toothpaste, razor... he unconsciously reached up and ran his hand down his face once more, wiping away some drying sweat, and then noting his morning shadow that had developed on his chin. _'Man, I need to shave...'_ he thought to himself, walking out of the bedroom, his friend still laughing hysterically on the floor.

* * *

When Lash stepped out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded to brush his teeth, even though he knew that Speed's mom would be making pancakes. She always made pancakes for breakfast when Lash spent the night. After brushing his teeth, he reached in his bag to find his razor so that he could shave, but stiffened when he realized that it wasn't there. He growled angrily, digging through his bag and finally giving up after a few moments. 'I guess I'll have to go without shaving today...' he rolled his eyes and stuffed everything except his toothbrush and his toothpaste in his bag, then proceeding to dry off and put on his clothes.

Once out of the bathroom, he dropped his backpack in Speed's room and followed the scent of Mrs. Markam's special pancakes down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Speed was already scarfing down a plate full of them.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" She welcomed Lash, a large smile blooming on her face. "More pancakes are on the table, help yourself!" He smiled and hugged the kind woman, giving her a kiss on the forehead as if she were his own mother.

"Thanks, mom." He smiled, taking a seat across from Speed and grabbing a fork so that he could pile at least three pancakes onto his plate to start.

"Dude, you didn't shave." Speed observed, pointing as him with his fork after he swallowed. Lash shrugged.

"Left my razor at home on accident." Speed snorted, and took another large bite of pancakes.

"Dude, you bring that thing in your overnight bag _religiously_. You _hate_ the feeling of facial hair." Lash rolled his eyes, although he was silently agreeing with his friend. For some reason, Lash couldn't stand the feeling of a developing beard. Of course, he was cursed with a face that develops a shadow overnight, which made it so that he was forced to shave every morning if he wanted to go a day without any insanity.

And he hated picking bits of food out of it after breakfast. He was thinking of this as he wiped the corners of his mouth profusely, unable to shake the feeling of something being attached to his bristly facial hair.

"I should get home." He sighed, standing up after eating about five pancakes.

"Oh, well, we enjoyed having you over, sweetheart." Mrs. Markam smiled charmingly at him. He stretched up the stairs and grabbed his things, stretching back down and hugging Speed's mom.

"Seeya, man." He bumped fists with Speed, who nodded since his mouth was full of pancakes, and then walked out the door. He walked casually down the sidewalks of the suburban neighborhood, unable to stretch at all since he was in a public area, and he couldn't risk being seen. Lash didn't make the observation, but this was actually incredibly strange for him. Any time last year, he wouldn't have given a damn and would have stretched anyway. Yet for some reason, he decided to be a Sky High rule-abiding student and _not_ use his powers outside of school.

It sucked, because unless he stretched, the walk back to his house took _forever_. He needed something to pass the time, so he did what he always did.

He zoned out, went into autopilot, and started daydreaming. Naturally, he started thinking about the dream he had. And what a good dream it was...

He didn't know how long he was thinking about it, but it was when he was walking by a few small business buildings on the way to his house that he saw the gate outside of one of the research buildings open, and two women and a guy walk out casually. His mouth fell open in shock when he saw who it was. Mina was walking out of that building with Marissa.

And another guy.

* * *

"Mina, what are you doing here?" She turned and her mouth fell open in surprise when she saw Lash. Albeit his hair was still a small bit damp from a shower and he hadn't shaved, but it was Lash.

"I should be asking you the same thing." She asked him, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged and smirked down at her.

"I spent the night at Speed's last night, and I'm walking home."

"Why so early?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I left my razor at home, so I couldn't shave. I _hate_ having facial hair, it drives me nuts." She smirked.

"Facial hair _is_ a turn off for me." He smirked and stepped closer to her and tossed his head, sending some of his hair out of his face for a moment.

"Is that a hint at something? Because if it is, please let me know." He heard somebody clear their throat and looked up to see Marissa glaring at him, and the other guy looking absolutely clueless.

"Please don't flirt right now, because I'm hungry and I want some breakfast. And I don't want to get sick before I eat." She smirked when Mina flushed uncomfortably, and Lash started looking at Marcus. He looked the other boy up and down and then glanced between him and Marissa, and then him and Mina.

"You two related?" He asked, waving his finger between Marcus and Marissa.

"We're twins." She told him, Marcus smiling and waving.

"I'm Marcus." He stepped over, smiling and extending his hand. Lash looked at his hand before forcing a smile and taking it.

"Lash." He stated his name, before dropping his arm to his side and stepping just a fraction closer to Mina, as if trying to get a small point across. Marcus noticed this and his face fell slowly, looking between the two in slight surprise.

"Is there something going on between the two of you?" He asked, waving his finger between the two of them as Lash had done with him and Marissa. Mina opened her mouth to respond, but Lash beat her to it.

"Yes." She froze in surprise and looked up at him in shock.

"...Huh?" He shrugged and looked down at her.

"At least, I _want_ there to be." Her mouth was hanging open, and she stared up at him, completely frozen in surprise.

"Well, whether there is or if there is going to be something, then I need to get to know you." He looked up and raised an eyebrow at Marcus, who had is arms crossed over his chest. "Mina is just as much of a sister to me as Marissa. So... I invite you to join us for breakfast." He smiled charmingly and gestured across the street towards the sidewalk that would take them to the bus stop for the public system, which would take them into city limits. Mina and Marissa both stared at Marcus in shock, but he just kept smiling at Lash acceptingly.

"That..." He paused, shifting his backpack uncomfortably. "That sounds... nice."

"Well then, let's get going!" He smiled at the new addition to their 'breakfast group', and started walking in the direction of the bus stop, completely oblivious to everyone's looks of surprise and confusion.

* * *

_Now, how many readers noticed before reading this that Lash didn't ask why they were leaving a research building? XD_

* * *


	29. They Wanted To Say Squirrel On Crack

Alrighty, guys! So anyone reading this who has been waiting with baited breath _(yeah, right)_ should thank **Miss-Paparella**, **hexgurl001**, **lalunafour**, and **SilverMoon Gypsy**! BTW, you guys should check out **SilverMoon Gypsy**'s new story, Anger Problems! I find it to be the _shiznit_.

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Eight**_

* * *

Lash didn't _want_ to like Marcus.

He was a nice, funny guy, he treated Lash like a person and wasn't afraid of him, he joked about some pranks he would pull at his public school back in Jersey City, he acted like a goofball...

Mina probably liked him.

Lash came to this conclusion about an hour after the foursome had sat down outside of a Starbucks and started talking.

It was after that first hour that Lash determined that if it weren't for Mina probably liking him, the two of them could be good friends.

But he would need to talk to Speed. Speed was his wing-man. His equal. His 'brother-from-another-mother'. _Hell_, whatever way you put it, he was still his best-friend, and it still felt wrong to be doing something with multiple people without him.

"Hey, guys?" Oh my God, he just casually referred to them as 'guys'! "I'm sorry if this is wrong, but can I call a friend of mine and invite him to come hang out with us?"

"Is it Speed?" Was Mina's immediate response. When he nodded she smiled. "I'm surprised you didn't ask before!" He smiled and pulled out his cellphone, gesturing to a corner of the building that was relatively unoccupied.

"I'm gonna go call him over there..." The three nodded and he rose to his feet, walking over and dialing Speed's house number on the way. The phone rang three times before a Speed grunted a hello.

"What's up, man?"

"Dude this is going to sound so gay, but I feel like I'm cheating on you right now."

"What the fuck?" Was Speed's immediate response. Lash rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I bumped into Mina on the way home, but she was with Marissa and this guy-"

"Was it Peace?"

"No, it wasn't Peace!" He whined. "That's the problem. Apparently, he's Marissa's twin brother."

"Huh... So your out with them now?"

"Hell yes! I'm not gonna let Mina go anywhere with this asshole without me!"

"Does Mina like him?"

"I don't know yet! But, dude, it's just making me uncomfortable that you're not here. I need my wing-man, dude!" He heard a chuckle on the other end of the phone.

"Alright, where are you?"

"The Starbucks on the corner of Roosevelt and Hyde."

"Gimme five minutes." He blinked when he heard the 'click!' and then the dialtone. He slowly pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at it confusedly for about a minute. He slowly turned around and walked back to the table, grabbing an empty chair from a table and placing it besides his before sitting down.

"How long until he gets here?" Marcus queried, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Any second now." It was then that a blur appeared from around a corner and zipped up, stopping immediately behind the empty seat. Speed tipped his hat before spinning it backwards again.

"Hey, man." He greeted nonchalantly, hi-fiving Lash as he sat down.

"Hey, buddy."

"Dude, that was _cool_." They both looked up at Marcus, who was staring at them with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"What?" Speed was obviously confused as he readjusted his hat.

"He talks on the phone for a little bit, and then he pulls it away from his face for a little bit-" he gestured to Lash, "and then you appear in front of us, and pull up a chair! That was _cool_." Lash and Speed looked at each other and smirked slowly.

"You've never seen anything like that?"

"I've read about it." He shrugged. "But I can't go out whenever my dad has to fight something. I can't defend myself." Lash and Speed shared a look, Mina smiled sympathetically, and Marissa sighed dramatically while patting his shoulder.

"Well, bro, you might just be a late bloomer..." He shook his head, his black hair hanging into his face.

"I know it isn't gonna happen." He smiled at her. "You got all the luck. I'll settle for graphic design."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Speed blurted out, raising an eyebrow. Marcus shrugged.

"I don't have any powers." The two bullies gaped at him, and Mina patted his upper arm.

"Don't feel bad, Marc." She sighed.

"Stop reading my mind, Mina." He stated, his face going blank. She smiled bashfully and returned her hand to her side.

"How can you _not_ have any powers?" Speed smirked, dropping his legs and leaning his elbows on the table. He shrugged.

"It's like Marissa took after both of our parents in the 'special' department. We just look alike."

"But they're so different!" Mina laughed. "Marissa is practically schizo, being all happy one second and then all dark and depressing the next, she has a hair-trigger temper-"

"We still don't know where she got it from." Marcus smiled.

"And she secretly likes to read, she's actually really, really smart. And Marcus..." He smiled and leaned back casually, smiling at her.

"Just tell 'em." He laughed.

"Well..." She tapped her chin and then smiled. "Marcus is a complete sweetheart all of the time, and he's really quiet, but... he's a lazy bastard." Lash and Speed continued to stare at her in confusion, and she smiled and rolled her eyes. "He does the bare minimum for all of his work. He has a crappy memory, he's lucky he has a fantastic metabolism or else he would be fat because he's so lazy..." She shook her head and turned to smirk at him. "That was why our relationship failed. Epically." She paused. "And it felt like I was dating my _brother_, which is really _creepy_."

"Aw, don't be mean." He pouted, but laughed softly. "Even though you're right."

"So... You don't have _any_ powers?" Speed pointed at him and he nodded.

"Nothing. Marissa got all the luck." Marissa snorted and put her chin in her hand.

"Ah, _please_. More like a blessing and a curse at the same time." Marcus rolled his eyes. Lash's brain was killing him as they had this discussion, his thoughts constantly flying back to Mina and Marcus. She had said something about them having a _relationship_.

Red flag.

Mina was sitting beside him, but Marcus was on the opposite side, and Lash was getting nervous with possible competition being so close.

"Mina, I have a question." Said blonde looked up at him, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" He swallowed and looked between the two, lifting his hand and wagging his finger between the two of them.

"Anything going on between the two of you?"

"You worried, Lash?" Marissa leaned across the table and smirked at him slyly.

"Once." Lash looked down at Mina and felt his heart sink a few inches. She had her lips pursed together as she stared straight ahead, tapping the side of her empty cup. "We dated for a little while once, but it didn't pan out." He turned to Marcus and raised an eyebrow, who shrugged.

"Not enough emotion. It was _really_ awkward and never got better." He stated, casually. "And I was too lazy to ever do anything, and Mina can get to be like a squirrel on crack, she was just to... to..."

"Energetic." Marissa stated across the table, taking a sip of her nearly untouched coffee and grimaced when she realized it was officially lukewarm.

"Yeah, too energetic." Marcus smiled. "I couldn't handle her. She needs a guy who isn't nearly as lazy." Mina snorted and glared at her empty cup.

"I want more frappucino." Something clicked in Lash's brain and he smirked down at her.

"Now that we have that cleared up, why don't I go buy you another one?" She looked up at him confusedly, tilting her head to the side.

"Why?"

_'Why do I think she's so... so cute?' _Lash thought to himself as she did this. "Well, if I remember correctly... we had plan to go to Starbucks together, my treat, and then Delia pulled her fancy seduction-power trick on me, and then you did your weird telempathy thing-"

"Telempathy?" Marissa snorted.

"It was my idea." Speed smirked and leaned back in his seat. "You know, telepathy and empathy? I thought it worked."

"That's dumb." Marissa snorted, absentmindedly taking another sip of her not-hot-enough coffee and then grimacing again.

"Actually, I like it." They looked down at Mina, who had currently cupped her face in her chin and appeared thoughtful. "That's a cool idea, Speed." Speed smirked in pride at the compliment.

"But, as I was saying..." She turned to look back up at him, and he smiled at her nonchalantly. "I never bought you that coffee." Mina smirked at him.

"Tall vanilla bean frappucino." She stated, still smirking. He also smirked and stood up, grabbing her empty cup and throwing it in the trashcan on his way into the coffee shop.

_'Lash, you are the **man**.'_


	30. My, What A Wonderful Suprise

_Come on, guys! Only two reviews? I really love these two, because they not only review, but they also make me feel special whenever they review: **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **Miss-Paparella**! _

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Nine**_

* * *

Lash sat on the roof of his house later that day with a goofy smile on his face, Speed sitting next to him, staring down into his friend's backyard.

"Your brother had better not shove us off of the roof." He stated warily, looking around.

"Mom and Dad may still be pissed at me, but they would still throttle him if he tried that." Lash sighed. Speed looked over at Lash and rolled his eyes.

"Dude, just _ask her out_, already!" Lash sat up and rested his arm on his knees, frowning as he looked over the large golf course beyond the large stone wall surrounding his backyard.

"I don't know _how_, Speed!" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I mean... She's... _She's_..."

"Aw, is big brother having girl problems?" A boy's voice cooed behind him, making him scowl and whirl around to glare at-

...Thin air.

"Darnit, Joey!" He snapped, fighting to control his language. "Stop spying on us!" The air near the attic window that they used to climb onto the roof wavered a bit as a little boy, about eleven or twelve, appeared. He snickered at the two older boys, and wagged his finger in the air.

"Mom says you need to watch your language!" He chided, playfully. Lash grimaced and glared at him further.

"I _am_ watching my language! Now... _go away_!" His younger brother laughed and turned around, his form wavering a bit before disappearing completely, the window opening and then closing a few seconds after. Lash continued glaring at the window, listening intently for any sign of him still being there. "Man, I wish I could throw _him_ off of the roof..."

"Dude, I _hate_ your little brother." Speed sighed, leaning back on the roof. Lash nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Miss Bates!" Marissa jumped in her seat and looked towards the front of the room at Medulla, tearing her gaze from the window. "May I ask what is so interesting outside of that window?" She heard snickers around the room and slowly smirked.

"Something far more interesting than whatever it is you're talking about?" Speed burst out laughing beside her, making her roll her eyes. Medulla grimaced.

"For your sass, Miss Bates, I'm giving you _detention_! And since you're so uninterested in my lesson, I guess you'll enjoy having it _now_!" Marissa glared at him and made a subtle motion at Speed with her finger, and he pursed his lips together. "And since you find Miss Bates so entertaining, Mister Markam, you will be _joining_ her in detention! Then you can laugh at whatever she has to say _openly_." Speed stopped laughing and gaped at Medulla.

"Are you _serious_? But that's not _fair_!" He exclaimed.

"Well, _I_ think it _is_, Mister Markam." Medulla responded. "Now, both of you! Gather your things and go straight to the detention room! I shall call Principal Powers and alert her of this." The two frowned and gathered their things slowly and then advanced to the front of the room. As Medulla opened the door for the two of them, he smirked. "Who's laughing now?"

"I can't believe this." Speed muttered, shoving one hand in his pocket and glaring ahead after the door shut. "You get sassy and get detention. And because of your stupid assignment, _I_ have to get detention _too_."

"You sound like you _care_." Marissa snorted. "I'm _obviously_ going to be given the blame. This isn't going to go as a relapse on your parole sentence. You're just getting out of class." Speed appeared thoughtful for a moment before smirking.

"You're right..." Marissa rolled her eyes as they approached the detention room, where Principal Powers was glaring at her and tapping her foot impatiently.

Naturally, she gave them the regular 'I'm disappointed in you, bladibladiblah' speech and then closed the door to the detention room after sending them one last disapproving look.

"You know, when I skip class, I usually do something else. This is just _boring_." Speed sighed, resting his chin in his, and Marissa rolled her eyes.

"I should have kept my mouth shut."

"Yeah, you should have." Marissa glared at him and clenched her fist, fighting to maintain her patience. After a few minutes, the door opened again and Powers walked into the room with Warren in tow, then giving him her lecture after he sat down beside Marissa, and walking out the door.

"So, what'd you do, Peace?" Speed asked, not looking away from the spot on the wall he had been staring at since him and Marissa had been placed in the room.

"Well, I didn't want Marissa in here with you alone, so I set fire to some chemicals we were working with." Marissa smirked at him and he winked, the two of them ignoring Speed gagging off to the side.

* * *

"Let me get this straight... He got into trouble, _on purpose_, so that he could make sure you weren't alone with Speed in the detention room?" Marissa blushed and nodded. "Holy _crap_! I _never_ would have seen this happening freshman year." Mina mumbled, sinking into the couch, Marissa sitting down on the opposite side.

"I know, right?" Marissa blurted out, her face still flushed with happiness. Mina paused and then gasped, shooting up in her seat and grinning at Marissa.

"Oh my _Good Lord_! _Marissa_!" He friend sat up and quirked an eyebrow. "You're in _love_!" Marissa gasped and covered her blushing face with her hands. "And don't you _dare_ and try to deny it! You know better than to try that with me." Marissa lowered her hands and chewed nervously on her lip.

She had admitted this to herself, but saying it out loud... that was a completely different story.

"Mina, I... I..." Mina smiled and crossed her legs underneath her, Indian-style.

"You don't know how to admit it out loud?" Marissa eyed her friend, obviously puzzled. "I don't need to read your mind to see that." Marissa shook her head and flushed. "So, what else happened?" Marissa pursed her lips together and looked nervously between Mina and the couch.

"...He asked me to the Winter Formal." It was silent for a moment before Mina suddenly squealed and tackled her friend, both of them falling off of the couch.

"_Marissa_! That's _fantastic_!" Mina laughed.

"I'm glad you feel that way, now _get offa me_!"

* * *

_I would feel oh-so-special if **MORE PEOPLE REVIEWED**..._


	31. Jealous?

_HOLY CRAP! I actually got five reviews last chapter! My love goes out to **Miss-Paparella**, **Baby-emo** (Don't worry, there's gonna be more Warren/Marissa soon!), **SilverMoon Gypsy**, **The Mayor's Daughter**, and **the holy see**! And thanks to **Puddy19** for putting me on her favorite author's list!_

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty**_

* * *

Lash and Speed couldn't go to any school functions without Mina and-or Marissa. It was part of their parole. However, they could officially go to the Winter Formal, since Marissa would be there with Warren.

Thank God Speed had been tailing Marissa when Warren asked her in the hallway outside of the detention room.

"You should ask Mina." Speed mentioned casually when they arrived at his house. Lash shrugged and dropped his bag on the floor beside the door, which was soon joined with his shoes, as well as Speed's bag and shoes. "Dude, don't act like you haven't been thinking about it." Lash sighed heavily and ran both of his hands through his hair, making the dark brown mop even messier, if possible.

"I _told_ you, Speed!" He sighed, collapsing on the couch. "I don't know _how_! I have no idea about how I should talk to her!" Speed rolled his eyes and zipped across the room, sitting down in a lounge chair.

"Dude... It can't be that hard." Lash sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

"_You_ try to get a crush on a girl out of _nowhere_ when you've never really liked a girl for more than her boobs before, and tell me how _that_ goes." Lash grabbed a throw pillow and set it down on his knees, leaning down and burying his face in it. A moment of silence passed before Lash lifted his head a little bit from the pillow. "The fact that Mina has nice boobs is just a plus." Then his face fell back into the pillow.

"What's going on, boys?" They both looked up at Speed's mom, who was standing in the doorway looking at them curiously.

"Nothing-" Lash started but he was cut off by Speed.

"Mom, Lash is having girl problems. It's annoying me, so try to help him." When his mom glared at him, he swallowed nervously. "_Please_." She smiled at her son and then sat down beside Speed, resting her hand on his back.

"Alright, what's wrong, Sweetie?" Lash shook his head, flipping his bangs out of his eyes.

"I like this girl, and I don't know _why_. I want to ask her to Winter Formal, but I don't exactly know _how_. And not to mention I'm pretty sure that she'll say no." Mrs. Markam laughed and patted his back, standing up.

"Well, you had best ask her anyway. Just try. Would you rather ask her and get the pressure off of your shoulders, or find out later that she would have gone with you if you asked?" Lash pursed his lips together and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I guess..." She smiled at him and reached down, ruffling his hair.

"Well, boys, I need to head back upstairs. I was cleaning the bathroom." She wrinkled her nose, making Lash and Speed snicker. After his mom was gone, Speed turned to Lash and smirked.

"You know what you're gonna do now?" Lash sighed and ran his hand through his hair, _again_.

"Yeah, yeah... I get it, Speed. I know what I'm gonna do now..."

* * *

The next day at school, Lash stood by Mina's locker, shuffling his feet nervously. He smiled in relief when he saw her walking around the corner, laughing with Marissa.

Unfortunately, he froze up when he saw another student, some guy who could teleport, approach her. He froze up as the other guy stopped the two girls to say a few words to Mina. He clenched his hands into fists as the other boy started shifting uncomfortably beside Mina, reaching up to rub his arm nervously and then look down at his shoes.

Whatever he was talking to Mina about, he was nervous and-or embarrassed about it. When he finished explaining whatever he was saying to her, she smiled at him and blushed. He began seething when he saw her share a look with Marissa and then back at him, saying a few words. The boy immediately relaxed and said something else before leaning over and hugging Mina, then stepping back and disappearing as Lash blinked. Marissa said something to Mina that made her laugh, and then they continued towards her locker. Lash breathed deeply, trying to calm down as Mina approached.

"Hey." He smiled at her when she finally reached her locker and spun her combination, opening it. She smiled up at him, her eyes glowing with something that made Lash's inner jealousy swell again.

"Hi!" She chirped, which made Lash frown.

"What are you so happy about?" She blushed and looked into her locker, a smile on her face. Marissa smirked and shot him a look out of the corner of her eye.

"This guy just asked her to the Winter Formal." Lash was now fighting with every shred of self-control that he had to not turn and run all over the school just so that he could find that guy and throttle him. Mina giggled and turned an even deeper shade of red. She looked up at him and her smile faded, her eyes now showing concern.

"Lash, what's up?"

"Nothing." He bit out. Of course, Mina stared at him for a few moments before gasping softly and smiling at him shyly.

"You're jealous..." She drifted off, clutching her books to her chest.

"No, I'm not." He huffed.

"Don't deny it, I can sense it." He felt angry, disliking the teasing way she said it. Her face fell and she reached towards him. "Lash, what's wrong? You're energy-" Lash barely stepped back in time to dodge her hand.

"I'll see you later." He muttered, turning around and walking away, still steaming over what he saw. Unfortunately, if he had waited around, he would have noticed how hurt Mina looked when he avoided her hand without a good reason.

"What's _his_ problem?" Marissa snapped as she glared at his retreating back until he disappeared around a corner. She suddenly felt a growing energy beside her, and she turned to glance at Mina, who's body was emitted a faint, gray aura. "Mina..." Said blonde looked at her friend out of the corner of her eye. "Mina, your wall is dropping..." Mina nodded slowly, and inhaled a shaky breathe, the depressing aura fading into her body once more. "Man, I can't believe you turned down _Max Franken_ because you hoped _that_ dick would ask you." Mina still didn't say anything, her gaze still fixated down the hallway where Lash had retreated.

Marissa thought hard, trying to think of some way to make her friend happy, until she reached a conclusion. "I have two ideas. Or suggestions, whichever you prefer to call them." Mina looked at her friend again. "The first is that you come to the dance anyway, and we turn you into some _hot stuff_ for it! Make sure that he won't be able to take his eyes off of you! _And_..." Marissa drifted off, noting that she still had Mina's attention. "I know for a _fact_ that there are going to be a _lot more_ guys besides Max Franken that will be dying to ask you to the dance." Mina hesitated for a few moments, tightening her hold on her books. She pursed her lips together and turned slowly, shutting her locker door. Her hand lingered there for a few moments before she looked back at Marissa.

"...So, when are we planning on going dress shopping?" Marissa smirked.

"Now, _that's_ what I'm talkin' about!"


	32. Dresses and Headaches

_**the holy see** wanted a long update! However, since the last chapter was kind of short, I decided to submit TWO chapters! XD_

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty-One**_

* * *

Lash was slouched down in his seat, glaring at the board.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" He looked up at Speed and snorted.

"You're guessing right." Speed rolled his eyes and sat down beside his friend.

"Alright, what happened?" Lash grit his teeth and glared _harder_ at the front of the room, if possible.

"I was waiting by her locker, and then..." He bared his teeth. "That teleporting _dick_, Franken, walks over when she's getting _close_, and _asks_ her." Lash growled and removed one arm from his chest so that he could bury his face in his hand and then run it through his hair, a sign that he was either nervous or stressed out. "I saw her smile and... I don't know, man... I just walked away." Speed stared at his friend.

"Did she say yes?" Lash perked up in surprise and looked at him.

"...Huh?" Speed rolled his eyes.

"When Franken asked her. Did she say yes?" He snorted when Lash only stared at him, his face blank. "People _are_ allowed to say 'no' when someone asks them somewhere." Lash's face lit up with realization.

"Ah, _shit_..." He hissed, slapping his face into his hand. Speed frowned.

"You didn't even _try_ to find out about that, did you?" Lash crossed his arms on the desk and buried his face in them, then emitting an agitated groan in response. "And knowing you, you're not going to admit that you screwed up and tell her why you bailed." Lash groaned again. Speed sighed and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I thought so."

* * *

Mina's face was flushed, and she was obviously uncomfortable as Layla and Frankie fluttered through the store, gushing over dresses and practically tossing new ones into the faces of the unenthusiastic three; Marissa, Mina, and Magenta. Magenta had sarcastically dubbed them 'the three M's'.

It had been a surprising week for Mina. First, _Max Franken_, the school's teleporting heartthrob, asked her to the dance. Second, Lash was upset when he found out someone had already asked her, even though she turned him down. Third, Marissa had introduced her to the 'homecoming heroes' that day, and they had taken a liking to her quickly. Fourth, she was asked to homecoming _seven times_.

Despite the protests made by the other girls, Mina had turned down every one of them, insisting that she would be there, and that she would save a dance for every one of them.

Marissa told her she sounded like a player.

Mina responded with "that's what she said". While at the lunch table. She feigned confusion and indignation when everyone laughed at the way she said it, only making them laugh _harder_.

Except Warren. Warren doesn't laugh. No, but he _did_ chuckle. And so, only Marissa would see the aura of pride radiating off of her friend when they arrived home and she could let down her 'wall'.

**_Anyway..._**

So, it was Friday afternoon, Homecoming was next Saturday, and the girls had decided they needed to do some dress shopping.

Magenta was the only one there who didn't need to be there. Apparently, she designed her own clothes, and insisted that she was going to make some alterations to her dress from the previous year. And, surprisingly, she offered to do the same for Layla and Frankie. The two girls, trusting Magenta with their clothing, agreed.

_**However...**_

Neither Marissa nor Mina owned a dress. _At all._ And so, all three of the other girls had squealed with joy, ecstatic that they could go dress shopping after all. Magenta was only having dresses thrown at her because that's how many dresses Layla and Frankie wanted Marissa and Mina to try on.

"Oh my!" Layla gasped and grinned even wider, spinning around and holding up a slinky black dress with an open back that had a lot of criss-crossing strings and a slightly low-cut front, with some of the strings from the back crossing over the shoulders to the front. "Marissa, this would be _gorgeous_ on you!" Marissa sighed and held out her arms, which were already piled high with dresses.

* * *

It was unbelievable as to how long it took Mina and Marissa to relent on their arguments and decide on dresses.

Marissa had actually liked a floor-length, black & white dress with a black corset-style top with white ribbons criss-crossing across the front and a white floor-length skirt.

Mina had taken even longer, but decided on a black dress that ended about an inch below her knees with a lavender sash around the waist that tied in the back, and a fringe of the same color around the tips of the dress and neckline.

And it was after they had decided on dresses and paid, that they went to the shoe store and went through this grueling process once_ more_.

Once they finished their shopping, they sat down in the food court with fruit smoothies from Orange Julius and proceeded to talk about their plans for the formal, and their hopes that it didn't turn out like homecoming the previous year, despite homecoming for _that_ year going by without a hitch. It wasn't until a few minutes into their conversation that Layla felt _something_. An _energy_ emanating from somewhere very close. She looked around carefully, trying to pinpoint it.

And I do mean _Layla_, not Mina. Because, she finally looked over and noticed that Mina hadn't said a word the entire time they had been sitting down, but had her head low and her eyes closed, obviously pained.

"Carrie, what's wrong?" Mina didn't respond. "Carrie?" She hesitated for a moment and looked up.

"Yeah?" Layla looked into her eyes carefully, growing worried when she saw pain.

"Carrie, what's wrong? You look like you're in pain." At this point, all of the girls at the table were looking at her worriedly. She sighed and reached up clutching her head and wincing.

"Too many people." She stated, closing her eyes once more. "Too many people for an extended period of time..." Layla was silent and then she gasped.

"It involves your powers, doesn't it?" Mina nodded. "Oh, we need to get you home!" She declared, jumping to her feet and grabbing Mina's things for her.

"That's alright Layla," Marissa helped Mina stand and smiled at her. "I'll get her home safely." Layla looked between the two nervously.

"Alright... but call me when you get back!" She quipped.

"Me too!" Frankie declared.

"Why don't we all just go to Layla's house, and you can call us there later and tell us what's wrong?" Magenta suggested. Marissa nodded quickly, barely hearing Mina's breathing get heavier.

"Well, I'd better hurry." Marissa blurted out, shaking her friend's shoulder gently. "I need to get her home." Mina's knees started shaking, and Marissa grabbed her arm to help her stand. "_Now_."

* * *

"Mina, what's happening?" Marissa asked the second they got back to their room in the facility and Mina had taken some extra-strength Tylenol. "You have fantastic control over your powers! Why should the mall bother you?" Mina shook her head.

"It's like before..." Mina whimpered, stretching out on the couch and clutching her head, whimpering with pain. "It feels like someone is tearing into my mind and ripping down my wall, and then stealing everything that I use to build it back up again..." Marissa pursed her lips together.

"You try to sleep and I'll go find Abe. He can figure out what's going on." As she said this, she grabbed her room key and jumped to her feet, disappearing out of the door. Mina's breathing quickly evened out as she closed her eyes, but she started tossing in her sleep about ten minutes later, it being a miracle that she didn't fall off of the couch.

A shadowy figure slowly appeared from a corner, smirking as his eyes flashed red. He stepped towards her and held out his hand near her forehead, but stopped and growled when he heard the door click, his head whipping over towards it. He narrowed his eyes and growled, looking back down at Mina and smirking.

"I'll come back for you, _Indigo Child_." He growled near her ear before turning and fading back into the shadows a few moments before the door flew open and Marissa rushed into the room, Abe following her.

* * *

Yeah, I'm sorry that I'm kind of suck-ish at describing dresses...


	33. Nightmares

_**Chapter Thirty-Two**_

* * *

Mina's eyes shot open and she gasped in terror as she practically threw herself onto her feet, her legs buckling underneath her the second her body was completely off of the cot. She looked around in fear, her blonde hair whipping around her head. She started crying softly as she clung onto the bed with her hands, on her knees beside it on the floor. She slowly began to sob harder, letting go of the bed and curling into the fetal position and rocking herself back and forth.

"_Mina_?" She gasped in shock and shot up, scrambling backwards and pressing herself against the wall next to her bed as much as possible, looking up in fear with tears in her eyes. "Mina, what's wrong?" Abe stepped forward and looked down at the poor girl, who was still staring at him with tears in her eyes while her body shook uncontrollably.

"Abe..." She sobbed, looking at him with scared eyes. "Abe, he's back. He's back and he's after me." Abe gasped softly and stopped down beside her, slowly extended his hand towards her head.

"...May I?" He asked softly. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, closing her eyes and resting his hand on her head. Abe breathed deeply and closed his eyes, the area around them becoming shadowy as shapes began to form around them.

T_here was nothing but darkness around them. But a figure slowly emerged from the darkness._

_It was wearing a long black cloak that pooled around it's feet with a hood so large it created a shadow that made it impossible to tell if it even had a face. And this cloak probably added to its ominous energy when you removed that fact that it was almost six and a half feet tall. _

_It made no sound, instead just standing there and staring at Mina with its hidden face. Until, two pale arms slowly appeared from underneath its folds and pulled back the large hood, repealing a ghostly pale man._

_His skin was completely flawless and framed by silky jet black hair that reached a little past the nape of his neck. His hair was long enough to pull back in the back, but his bangs still fell out and framed his face, a little bit even falling in the way of his forest green eyes. The most color on his face aside from his eyes was the pink in his full lips, which slowly curved up in a small, secretive smile._

_He pushed the cloak over his shoulders so it was now more of a cape, revealing his baggy black pants tucked into black boots at the ends, and a form-fitting, short-sleeved black t-shirt that revealed his pale, toned arms with black, fingerless gloves on his hands._

_He was stunningly **gorgeous**. But despite this, Mina looked absolutely terrified._

_"Ah, Indigo Child..." He drifted off, walking towards her and smirking as he looked down and his smirk deepened. "Indigo Child, what __have you been doing? You're control is __slipping."_

_"Leave me alone." Mina choked, trying to appear brave, but failing miserably. This man merely chuckled harder, and his grin grew wider._

_"Oh, you know I can't do that, Indigo Child." He chuckled, extending one pale arm and wagging a finger in her face. "You entertain me." Mina grimaced and was obviously fighting to stand her ground against him and not turn and run._

_"Leave me alone." She snapped, his statement seeming to give her just enough anger to fight back her fear just a little bit._

_"Indigo Child..." He whispered, stepping closer before disappearing in the blink of an eye and reappearing behind Mina, who's eyes widened in shock as he leaned over near her ear and trailed one of his nails down her arm. All courage in her eyes disappeared entirely and she looked like she was about to cry. "Indigo Child, I want you." He chuckled deeper and dragged his hands down her arms and then wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair and breathing deeply, obviously ignoring Mina's stiffness. "**All** of you." He growled, seizing her hips and spinning her around, then grabbing her shoulders and grinning into her eyes. "But I will give you a chance." Her face was now contorted into a look of absolute fear and tears were building in her eyes. "Your smell is enough to drive me crazy, but it's even __more amazing when it's mixed with your __**fear**." He leaned closer and cackled, his face inches from hers. "__Run." He released her arms as he said this and Mina wasted no time turning on her heal and taking off like lightning into the darkness._

_Mina stumbled and sobbed, a forest growing from the darkness surrounding her. Her tears made it difficult for her to see, so she continued running, but tripping constantly and falling on her face, only to scramble back to her feet and continue running. She didn't look over her shoulder once, and after what felt like eternity, she finally slowed down and slid behind a tree, sinking down until she was sitting on the ground with her back pressed against it and sobbing while looking around to see if he was near. After a few moments when she had caught her breath, she rose to her feet slowly, still looking around._

_"**Gotcha**." He whispered in her ear, appearing out of nowhere and seizing her shoulders, making her let out a shriek of shock and terror._

Abe jumped at this shriek and the vision ended abruptly. When he looked at Mina in sympathy, she was now in a fresh fit of sobs. Abe slowly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and rocking her back and forth while whispering comforting words. After a few moments, he listened to her even breathing and picked her up, albeit with some effort since he wasn't nearly as strong as Hellboy, and rested her on the bed before grabbing the phone off of the bedside and calling her and Marissa's room.

* * *

"So... he's back?" Abe nodded. "And he's after her?" Abe nodded again. The large library was silent for awhile. "Well, how the _hell_ did he find her?" Abe winced at Marissa's snarl, and sighed.

"Well... Whenever Mina's aura breaks through her wall, it is very... potent." He started. At the confused looks from the four members of the 'Hellboy family', he shook his head. "Marissa, has Mina's aura ever broken through her wall since you came here?" Marissa was silent for awhile before she winced.

"Yeah... twice." Everyone stared at her until she rolled her eyes. "The first time was before she siphoned Lash and Speed, and she still hated their guts... Lash slammed her locker shut in front of her, and it ticked her off. Her anger disrupted her aura and it broke through... Scary feeling." Marissa shivered and then continued. "The second time was Friday morning. This guy asked Mina to the Winter Formal and she turned him down, but Lash saw. After Mina siphoned him, he turned into this completely different guy... and Mina kinda likes him that way. She turned down the first guy because she was hoping he would ask her." Marissa hesitated and crossed her arms, leaning against a banister around the desk in the center of the library. "But he was by her locker and when we showed up, he got all pissy and just walked away. Mina was kinda sad about that, and her aura broke through again." Marissa shrugged.

"So her aura broke out _twice_... because of some _boy_?" Abe sounded shocked. Marissa hesitated before nodding.

"Yeah, I guess." Abe shook his head.

"Marissa, things are going to be very dangerous for Mina whenever the sun goes down." Abe started, lifting his hand in the air. Marissa smirked and waved hers at him.

"Ah, it's not like she'll ever be alone."

"But just because she won't be alone doesn't mean she won't have someone there who can actually help her." Marissa sighed.

"Well, who else is she going to be out with past dark? There's me. And then who else?" All was silent. It was very quiet for a few moments whilst everyone stared at her as if she already knew. Her expression was blank for awhile before she gasped in shock and she looked scared. "There is one person who she would want to be out with past dark... and if she's out with him, then that means she'll probably be out with his friend, too..."

"Who?" Marcus blurted out. Marissa turned and looked him in the eye, dead serious.

"Lash and Speed."


	34. Invitations and an Inner Battle

**Wow, I was in such a hurry to update last chapter, I forgot to update the amazing people who reviewed!:**

_**SilverMoon Gypsy**_** (duh), _Miss-Paparella _(again, duh), _the holy see_, _Nelle07_, and _lalunafour_! Thank you, oh beautiful reviewers!**

* * *

**_Chapter Thirty-Three_**

* * *

"Marissa, are you absolutely sure that this is a good idea?"

"For the _hundred-millionth time_, Marc! _Yes_, I am _sure_!"

Marissa crossed her arms over her chest and sank down in her seat, her eyes skimming over the decor of the Paper Lantern. Marcus quirked an eyebrow when he saw his older sister suddenly sit up in her seat and smile, her eyes twinkling with happiness. He turned around in his seat and smirked when he saw what she had been staring at.

Warren.

Said pyrokinetic was currently walking by tables in his 'uniform' with a black plastic bin under his arms, grabbing dirty dishes off of the tables and then heading back into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and turned around, snickering to himself when he saw Marissa's deflated look.

"Now, why are we here to see your _boyfriend_ when we should be talking to those other two guys who Mina talks to?" Marissa rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I told you. Lash and Speed aren't the only people who Mina hangs out with. She also hangs out with the other girls."

"That doesn't answer why we're here to see your boyfriend." Marissa rolled her eyes.

"Thing number one, he isn't my boyfriend-"

"-Yet-" Marissa glared at her brother.

"-And thing number two, the girls are usually a packaged deal with the guys. And Warren in one of them."

"Wait, wait, _wait_!" Marcus waved his hands in front of his face and shook his head. "_One_ of them? There are _more_ people who you want to tell? Marissa, do you understand what you're _jeopardizing_? We're talking an entire _sector_ of the government! Not to mention a sector that the public isn't even supposed to _know_ about!" Marissa sighed heavily and sank down into her seat.

"I _know_, Marc! I _am_ one of the sector agents! ...Normally..."

"Then why the _hell _are you doing it?" He snapped. Marissa was silent for a moment, her hair hanging into her face and shadowing her eyes. Then, after a few moments, she lifted her head so that one of her eyes was visible.

"Because I trust them." Marcus glared at her for a few moments, before he shrugged and leaned back.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Once Warren was finally on break, he slipped into the booth beside Marissa and propped his elbow on the table, staring at her.

"Alright, what's the problem?" Marissa sighed and ran one of her hands through her hair.

"Warren, we need your help..."

* * *

"So, why do you want our help again?" Will looked up from his tea at 'Emily' after taking a sip and asking his question. Marissa sighed heavily and massaged her forehead.

Shortly after she had explained the situation to Warren, he had suggested that she call the others and invite them there. Everyone had shown up in less than twenty minutes, which was a really good thing for her.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you here." Eyebrows were raised all around. She sighed and grabbed a napkin and a pen from Warren's apron and started scribbling something down on it. When she finished with that, she slid it over the table towards Layla. "Don't wipe your mouth on it." Layla set down her chopsticks and picked up the napkin, examining Marissa's messy scrawl.

"...It's an address." Marissa nodded at her observation.

"It's my address. Kind of..." Everyone looked at her, and Warren quirked an eyebrow. She heard Marcus sigh, since he had moved to the booth behind hers to make room for everyone else. "Just show up at that address at ten o' clock tomorrow, alright? I'll explain then..."

* * *

As this exchange was happening at the Paper Lantern, Mina was sitting in a large chair on the opposite side of the library from the door, a curved desk in front of it. The desk was littered with papers on either side of her, and a laptop was open directly in front of her. A small lamplight was on about a foot away from the computer on her left, and on the opposite side of the desk from the lamp was an empty phone cradle.

The laptop had been pushed back a little bit, and the phone that was supposed to be in the cradle was sitting directly in front of her.

Mina had her legs crossed and was leaning back into the royal purple recliner, which was so large it made her look much smaller than she really was. The recliner-curved desk combination looked rather awkward from the door, but Mina still would have looked incredibly comfortable, if it weren't for the worried look on her face as she stared at the phone.

"It's for your own safety, Mina." She didn't look up from the phone as Abe approached, going around the 'relaxing area' in the center of the library, which was a large circular couch with a coffee table set in the center.

"But what about their safety, Abe?" She mumbled, not taking her eyes away from the phone. "We're just dragging them into a world that they don't understand, that they shouldn't even know exists." Abe paused in front of the desk, directly across from her and hesitated. He then lifted his eyes to the wall of books curved behind her. He walked towards one of the shelves and skimmed his hands over the spines until his webbed hands stopped over a book with a black spine and no words, making it stick out from the other colored spines with titles down the sides.

Abe's webbed hands flipped through the pages quickly, obviously knowing what he was doing or what he was looking for, and stopped on one page. His eyes skimmed to one passage and then he walked towards Mina and stood beside her, handing her the book and pointing to one entry.

"Read that." Mina stared at her blue-skinned mentor for a moment before taking the book into her hands and looking down slowly at what was printed there.

_"When something important is going on, silence is a lie" - A.M. Rosenthal_

Mina lowed the open book into her lap and stared at the phone, although her expression was thoughtful.

"What is happening _is_ important, Mina," Abe said softly. "And you hate lying." Abe then walked away, leaving Mina in her chair to think about it.

-----

Mina was silent for a few moments after Abe left, her thoughtful expression never leaving her face. And then, she slowly reached towards the phone and picked it up, entering a number. She marked the page in the book and set it down on her desk so that she could pull her legs to her chest and cradle the phone against her ear.

"Hi, may I please speak to Lash?" she queried once someone answered.

_TBC..._

* * *

**_Oh, wow! I am so EVIL! Don't worry guys, I'll update sooner that I have been! Wow, cliffhangers are fun!_**


	35. The Truth Comes Out!

_Thanks to **Britneyy Peace**, **SilverMoon Gypsy**, and** Mignun** for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** This chapter is for Mignun, because I promised her that I would update on Tuesday, which I did not._

_Don't blame me, blame my family. And my short attention span. My dad has this one game on our computer, which he plays all of the time. And whenever he's playing, I go and play Zelda: Ocarina of Time on my N64, which distracts me even when he's done with the computer! So, I'm sorry..._

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty-Four**_

_**

* * *

**_

At Marissa's designated time, all of the 'Homecoming Heroes' were standing outside of the gates of the 'Maxville Research and Development Center'.

At least, that's what they thought the large, concrete building was. They were just going with what the plaque above the speaker said.

"This doesn't feel right..." Layla drifted off, looking up at the steel gate. Warren stepped forward cautiously and dropped his backpack on the concrete, then wrapping his hands around the steel bars of the gate and looking between them at the large, concrete building.

"Well, this is the address she gave us." Magenta shrugged, not noticing the strange look glinting in Warren's eyes.

"Hey! Sidekicks!" Ian gasped in terror and immediately collapsed into a puddle, said puddle then squiggling away and pooling at Frankie's feet, quivering like jell-o. The others frowned and looked down the sidewalk, except Warren, who was instead scowling.

"What are you doing here?" Warren growled, glaring venomously at Lash and Speed.

"Mina called us last night and told us to come here at this time." Speed stated while Lash simply shrugged one shoulder beside him. It was at that moment that Zach looked at his watched and frowned.

"Yo, man, it's five minutes past the time that Emily told us to be here." Warren, Lash, and Speed all smirked to themselves.

"Maybe we should see if anyone is inside? Maybe they aren't going to just open the door at this time, like _Charlie in the Chocolate Factory_." Magenta casually suggested, with a hint of sarcasm. Taking her suggestion, Will walked over and glanced around at his friends before hitting the button below the intercom. The waited a moment before they heard a crackling through the speaker.

_"Name and business?"_

"Um..." Will looked around nervously, making Warren scoff and roll his eyes. He stepped over and nudged Will out of the way, then pressing down on and holding the red button.

"Warren Peace, as well as a few others, here to see Marissa Bruttenholm and Mina Schultz." He let go of the button and turned around to face everyone's confused expressions, excluding Lash and Speed. "It'll make sense later." He answered their unspoken question just as the speaker started crackling again.

_"Approved. One moment please."_ A few seconds later, the gates opened so that Warren and the others could go in.

-----

Once inside the building, the "Homecoming Heroes" and "Homecoming Villains" stared in surprise at the large, surprisingly vacant interior of the building. All that was inside was a large desk at the very back of the room with a man standing behind it.

"Please stand in the circle in the center of the room." It was then that they noticed the large symbol in the center of the room (see chapter ). They shared confused expressions, but shrugged and did as they were told. "Please keep all hands and feet inside the moving area until it comes to a complete stop at the bottom floor."

"What are talking abou-" Zach's confused expression to into shock and fear once the circular area that they were standing on started to move down into the floor. Him and Ethan both let out cries of fear and clutched onto each other, making the others roll their eyes.

-----

The words 'stunned' and-or 'shocked' would have been understatements.

Even Warren wasn't expecting what they saw as they slowly descended on the platform.

"Whoa..." Zach breathed out at all of the creatures and people that they saw on each level that they passed. No one else said anything, but one just knew that they were thinking the same thing.

Once the platform reached the bottom and came to a complete stop, Zach and Ethan pushed the front and rushed to get off of said platform.

"That..." Ethan started to say and paused, pointing at the elevator the others were standing on. "Was really freaky."

"You get used to it." Everyone looked behind them to see a young man with combed back black hair wearing a suit walking towards them. "I felt the same way the first time it happened to me." He walked towards Zach and extended his hand. "Hi, I'm John Myers. I assume that you guys are the ones here to see Mina and Marissa?"

"Who the heck are Mina and Marissa?" Magenta blurted out, glaring at him and crossing her arms. "We're here to see Carrie and Emily." John seemed surprised for a moment before a knowing smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Well, then," he smiled, "why don't I take you to see them? They're waiting in the library."

* * *

"So, what is this place?" Lash asked after John started leading them down a hall.

"In 1944, Nazi Germany started to combined modern technology with black magic in an attempt to sway World War II in their favor. In their attempt, they hired a notorious Russian mystic that you may have heard of, a man named Grigori Rasputin."

"The creepy guy who tried to manipulate the Russian royal family by 'curing' the heir of his hemophilia?" Layla interjected. John smiled over his shoulder and nodded.

"Yeah, that's the guy. Well, in the final months of the war, the Nazis built a machine on Tarmagant Island, off the coast of Scotland. A platoon of American soldiers, along with an American professor named Trevor Bruttenholm who was knowledgeable in magic and sorcery, arrived on the island to intercept their use of this machine. The mission was a success. Shortly after that night, Professor Bruttenholm made an appeal to the American government for a new sector, dedicated to the study of paranormal phenomena and protecting the public from any dangers that may come of it.

"This sector was dubbed the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense."

* * *

_Now, normally I would cut it off here, and leave you guys with a cliffhanger..._

_But since I'm WAY overdue with the chapter, I'm gonna give you guys a little more..._

* * *

"Yo, dawg, that sounds like Area 51." Zach joked, nudging Warren in the side with his elbow and smiling. His smile disappeared and he shrank away when Warren glared at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Actually, Area 51 is a branch of the B.P.R.D." John stated.

"Only a branch?" Magenta asked, and John nodded.

"The B.P.R.D. was founded to protect the public from and study paranormal phenomena. Later on, a branch was created for the study of the idea of life in outer space. I.E., Area 51." Everyone nodded, a few of them making 'oohhh...' sounds. "Anyway, here we are!" They stared at the _huge_ oak doors in front of them, the wooden material stick out drastically against the metal and chrome surrounding them.

He pushed against the doors with a heavy grunt, making them swing open. He turned and smiled at the group once the doors were fully open and they could see past him into a giant library.

"Go on in! Mi-uh... Carrie, should be waiting for you." He waved goodbye and walked away, disappearing around a corner. They stood there until Magenta sighed and walked towards the door.

"Well, he said go on in."

* * *

_And, there you have it! Chapter thirty-four! Sorry again that it's so long overdue!_


	36. The Explanation

_**Chapter Thirty-Five

* * *

**_

Everyone stared around the massive library in awe. They were surrounded by walls of books, and when the looked up they could see another level. A spiral staircase was on the opposite side of the library leading up to the second level, and opposite the room from that there was a large gap in the bookcases. A circle of couches was in the center of the room with a round table in the center of them, which Lash and Speed immediately approached to sit down. As everyone in the group slowly started to circle around the massive library, Warren hesitated at the doorway and headed towards the gap in the bookcases.

At once he was gazing through a massive glass window into a large tank of water. Kind of like one that you would see at an aquarium, but there was no coral or other sea life in it.

He slowly stepped towards it, curious as to what would live inside such a large tank. When his foot landed about a foot away from the glass, a blue figure suddenly darted from the side and reached a sudden halt directly in front of him. He gasped in surprise and stumbled backwards, his mouth hanging open in surprise at the sight of a man-no, it couldn't have been a man.

He had incredibly large black eyes, and blue skin! It looked like he had scales, and webbed hands and feet!

_"You must be Warren."_ He blinked slowly in shock, the unfamiliar voice echoing in his mind.

"Hey, guys!" Warren whirled around and stepped away from the tank to see Mina running into the library with a few newspapers in her hands, screeching to a halt just in time to fly into the back of a section of sofa and fall over the back of it, landing on her side. Miraculously, the newspapers did not go flying all over the place. "How goes it?"

"What the hell is going on here?" Was the first thing that was said, and it was by Warren. Mina looked over at him and looked past his shoulders to see the blue-skinned fish-man floating in the tank behind him.

"Oh. I see you've met Abe." Warren gritted his teeth and glared at her, small flames slowly developing at his fingertips.

"Mina, what the hell is going on here?"

"She should be telling us!" Magenta cut in. "Carrie, why the hell do people keep calling you Mina? And what is up with this place? I mean, Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense? What is going on?" Mina winced at Magenta's yelling.

"If you will stop yelling and sit down, along with everybody else, then I will be more than happy to explain." Magenta scowled and slowly took a seat between Zack and Layla.

Once everyone was seated, as Mina had requested, Mina stood up from her seat and started pacing in front of them.

"...Carrie isn't my real name, as you might have guessed by this point," she started. "It's actually Mina. I'm an agent for the B.P.R.D. as may have explained. At least, that's my usual job. I started a couple years ago with Marissa, who you guys know as Emily. The reason we are enrolled at Sky High under false names is because of these two-" she gestured at Lash and Speed-"who we are supposed to keep an eye on. We are 'on loan' I guess you could say from the B.P.R.D. to the U.S.C.S.A."

"The who?" Zach blurted out. _(Mina immediately smiled a little bit and murmured "I love that band...")_

"The U.S.C.S.A." Ethan explained. "The United States Council of Superhero Affairs. They're the ones in charge of approving superheroes. They consult certain government representatives to assign cities to superheroes and they're also in charge of all of the supervillain prisons."

"He's got it." Mina confirmed. "Anyway, the U.S.C.S.A. specifically requested me and Marissa because we used to be students at Sky High, and we knew Lash and Speed personally... kinda."

"You **knew** them?" Will blurted out incredulously.

"You used to be students at Sky High?" Magenta quirked an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, 'kinda'?" Layla asked. Mina pursed her lips and inhaled deeply, narrowing her eyes in deep thought.

"We went there a few years ago..." she began slowly. "We were only there through a portion of our freshman year. Then, something happened and Marissa and I left. We became B.P.R.D. agents for a few years, and then we heard these two needed someone to keep an eye on them if they were to go back to school. Preferably, someone with knowledge of the kind of stuff they pull. The U.S.C.S.A. found our files and gave us a call."

"But how did you **know** them." Will stated, crossing his arms. Mina sighed and closed her eyes.

"It's complicated-"

"We killed her." Everyone's necks turned to look at Lash so quickly, their heads should have flown off. _(At least Mina winced and gripped her neck a few seconds later, mumbling: "Ow, whiplash...")_

"You did **what**?" Magenta yelled, jumping to her feet. "You **killed** her? You **can't** be **serious**!" she lowered her voice and turned to Mina slowly. "...Can they?" Mina lifted her head slowly and opened her eyes, nodding in confirmation. The library was silent.

"...How is that possible?" Layla's voice was soft, and everyone looked at Mina with expectant looks, obviously wondering the same thing. Mina sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, reaching up and massaging her temples.

"...Marissa is..." she hesitated, searching for a proper word. "...Unique. I was dead for a few minutes, and she did something to bring me back."

"How? What?" Ethan leaned forward in his seat, staring at her with large eyes. Mina shook her head.

"Unfortunately, that's one of the things that I can't tell you."

"Then what can you tell us?" Warren's voice rang out in the near silence of the library. "You've covered that your real names are Mina and Marissa, and you work for the government. Lash and Speed killed you, Marissa brought you back. What else can you tell us?" Mina pursed her lips together in deep thought for the umpteenth time.

"Do you know the saying 'things that go bump in the night'? The stories about things like the bogeyman and the chupacabra? Vampires, werewolves, and zombies?" Everyone nodded. "Well they're real. And it's our job to hunt them down and stop them from harming anyone."

* * *

_I AM SO SORRY!!!!! I know I haven't updated in forever-and-a-day, but.... Well, I have just recently rediscovered my addiction to CSI: Miami. I've been watching at least two hours a day on A&E... And that, combined with my other work, well... yeah..._


	37. Magic vs Superpowers

_**Chapter Thirty-Six

* * *

**_

"Since I was already psychic when I died, something happened when Marissa brought me back." Mina started her explanation. "And since the government didn't want me saying anything that could jeopardize the B.P.R.D., they took me in and made me an honorary agent. Turns out that was a good thing. It's already an explanation that always makes me tired, so I'll leave that out for now.

"Anyways, the B.P.R.D. deals with the supernatural, that I think is better explained as Magic." Everyone stared at her like she was crazy. Mina noticed their expressions and made a funny face, as if she was offended. "I am **not** crazy!"

"You can read minds?" Layla blurted out. Mina made a small snort-laugh noise and smirked.

"No, I read facial expressions." Layla blushed and sank down into her seat. "But I can read minds. It's just kind of... conditional."

"How?" Ethan scooted forward, sitting on the edge of his seat. Mina pursed her lips together and crossed her arms, then lowered her head and closed her eyes. She opened her mouth and took a deep breathe.

"It requires physical contact."

"...Huh?" Zack's clueless tone voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Technically, only my empathy is my own power. Everything else I obtained... elsewhere. For some reason, I can only use the 'everything else' part through skin-to-skin contact. Please don't ask, because I don't fully understand it myself."

"How did you get these powers?" Warren spoke for the first time since Mina arrived in the library. She stared at him in the eyes for about five seconds before she broke their eye-contact and sighed.

"Magic."  
-----

"Y'know, if you can disguise your 'Magic'-" Magenta spoke, using sarcasm on the 'M' word, "-Then what makes it so different from superpowers?" Mina made her 'thinking face' _(head down, lips closed tightly, eyes narrowed at the floor)_.

"Good question." She simply stated, darting around the couches towards the desk. She rifled through the desk for a few moments before returning to the table and sitting down between Lash and Speed, then holding out her hands. Sitting in the palm of each hand was a ballpoint pen. "Okay, let's say the red pen in my left hand is superpowers, and the blue one in my right hand is superpowers. Have you guys ever heard the phrase 'there is a fine line between love and hate'?" Everyone nodded. "Well, the same principle can be applied to Magic.

"For starters, both are usually inherited. However, sometimes superpowers can be gained through being shot with some kind of ray, falling into a vat of toxic waste, etc. Magic can also be obtained through alternative methods, besides genetics. Magic can be obtained through curses or spells, which is kind of like rays, and on even rarer occasions, someone can find some kind of artifact that obtains Magic. Now, either someone can use that artifact to use Magic, or the Magic in the artifact kind of... **rubs off** on them.

"With superpowers, the gene is always passed down and carried, but that doesn't necessarily mean that person can use those powers. However, if someone is born with the ability to use Magic, they can **always** use it. But, if they don't learn, then they can go through life as if they don't have the potential at all."

"What if someone has Magic from one parent and superpowers from the other? Because sometimes you have the kids of two superheroes." Magenta cut in, making a subtle gesture at Will. Mina sighed.

"Well, the same principle applies there. If someone has two superhero parents, the can get one power, both, or neither. The same goes for someone who descends from someone with superpowers and the other with Magic. One, both, or neither. However, the 'both' situation is very, **extremely** rare. This is usually because someone with superpowers never mates and reproduces with someone of Magical origins."

"Then how do you know it can happen at all?" Layla cut in, her face screwed up in confusion.

"Well, I exist, don't I?" Everyone looked to the door of the library as Marissa walked in with a small smirk on her face.

"Marissa!" Mina smiled and waved. "I was just trying to explain the difference between Magic and superpowers!" Marissa sighed.

"Ah, yes." She smirked sarcastically. "A very confusing subject."

"What do you mean, you exist?" Will asked, his expression showing just as much confusion as Layla's. In fact, everyone looked as confused. Marissa sighed and walked over to the couch and stopped in front of Zack and Ethan. She made a face and gestured for them to scoot over. They did so in a hurry and Marissa smiled, plopping down next to Warren.

"My mom has a superpower, and my dad is... unique. I've been told that's a word the my grandfather used often."

"Okay, seriously, tell us what the heck you're talking about." Zack blurted out rudely. He immediately cowered under the angry gaze of Marissa and Mina.

"Marissa..." Mina's angry glare lifted and was replaced with worry. "...Do you want to tell them? It's your choice." Marissa sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. She closed them for a few moments and then opened them again.

"When I was little, I was normal." She stated. "I was just a little girl who liked playing in the backyard with her brother during the day, and then playing baseball with her dad in the moonlight, because he couldn't risk going out during the day.

"And then those neighborhood idiots decided to pick on me when I was eight. They hit me in the head with a soccer ball, and then I don't remember anything. When I woke up, I was in the park, and there was a circle of ash around me like a bomb dropped in the spot where I was standing, and the soccer ball was melted a few feet away, and those kids were gone." Marissa closed her eyes again. "That was the first time I lost control of the fire inside of me. I got it from my mom, and she taught me how to control it." Marissa opened her eyes and lifted her head, staring straight ahead with a blank look on her face.

"And I was fine until I turned eleven. Have you guys ever heard of a blood red moon?" Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"Isn't that the lunar eclipse that symbolizes calamity and war? And in some religions, the end of the world?" Marissa asked in a very blunt tone. Marissa nodded.

"Yep. That's the one."

"What does that have to do with what you're talking about?" Will leaned forward, along with Zack and Ethan.

"On my eleventh birthday, there was one. I remember because right before bed I saw my parents by the window looking at it, obviously worried about something." A few of the listeners quirked an eyebrow, and the rest were listening with rapt attention, their mouths even hanging open. "Don't ask me how, but it only shined on my house. Somehow..." She sighed. "And when that happened, it shined into my room, through my window." She sighed and her head fell back again. "When it did, I had a dream.

"In that dream, I was in this expanse of darkness, but the ground was this bleak gray smoke... and a few feet away from me was this man... he was sitting on a wolf, and he had two pairs of wings, one pair was leathery and reptilian, and the other pair was feathered. He also had reptilian claws on his hands and feet. When I saw him, part of me was scared, and then another part of me was unaffected, like he was kinda... familiar. He told me that he had a gift for me.

"After he said that, it was like fire exploded throughout my entire body. That was the first of two times that my body has ever felt what it's like to be on fire. It was so **painful**..." She drifted off quietly, her voice broken. Warren lifted his hand and rested it on her shoulder, lending some amount of comfort with this gesture. She shifted in her seat, sitting up, and then she took a deep breath. "When I woke up, I wasn't human anymore."

"Whaddaya **mean**, you weren't human?" Lash yelled, leaping up in his seat, only for Mina to seize his arm and yank him back down forcefully.

"I mean exactly what I just said, I wasn't human." She shook her head, her hair falling into her face in the same way it always did. "I was terrified when I looked into my mirror. I couldn't believe that it was me. After that, I locked myself in my room, refusing to leave. My mom and my brother tried coaxing me out of my room, and then they started leaving food at my door when I refused. After about three months, the moon returned.

"I was in the same placed, with the same guy. But this time, he looked pissed. He started yelling about how I was ungrateful and pathetic, and I didn't deserve his gift. When I didn't flinch, he calmed down and said that if I was so ashamed of my 'gift', then he would make me keep it. But then he said he would just let me change back and forth. "Only because we're blood," he told me. He then turned around and started fading into the darkness." She pulled her knees to her chest and started ahead with a blank look again. "I yelled at his back and yelled at him what he meant. All he told me was that he had many names, but I was to call him Astaroth. Immediately the fire exploded through my body again and I woke up screaming. But when I looked in the mirror, I saw me. I was human again.

"A few weeks later, I was getting angry at my brother. I felt this darkness creeping up from inside of me. Then it was like fireworks exploded in front of my eyes for a few moments, and when it stopped my family was staring at me in shock. My dad took me out of the room and I broke down and told him everything. It was then that I developed a newer bond with my dad... but that one didn't last very long."

"What do you mean 'bond'? What kind of bond?" Layla asked patiently. Marissa sighed, all depression and pain gone from her face.

"Astaroth is a relative because he's a prince of hell. My dad is also a son of Satan, which means Astaroth is my uncle, and the Devil is my grandpa."

"How the **hell** is that possible?" Will was the first to lunge to his feet and yell, throwing his arm out and pointing at her. Marissa glared at him and Mina snort-laughed.

"Her old man is Hellboy." Mina stated before Marissa had a chance.

It only took a few seconds for everyone in the library except Marissa, Mina, and Warren to **totally** _shit_ bricks.


	38. Random Laughter With Mina

**I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry that this is SOOOOOOOOOOOO late! I've just been really, REALLY, REALLY lazy... Once again, my sincerest apologies!**

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty-Seven

* * *

**_

The different reactions from each person to the information about Marissa's "heritage" was actually pretty funny. From Marissa and Mina's perspectives, at least.

Frankie and Layla fainting, Ethan melting into a puddle and dripping off of the couch, Zack making an almost silent yet very girly squeak, Will's mouth falling open and eyes widening as if they were going to pop out of his sockets, Magenta making a very uncharacteristic squeak and shrinking into a guinea pig before scuttling into Zach's lap, and Lash and Speed going into states of what appeared to be semi-catatonic shock. Warren just sat there with his arms crossed, staring at them with his usual bored expression.

Oh yeah, totally hilarious. So hilarious, in fact, it sent Mina into a fit of laughter. Ethan immediately materialized into his body again and stared at her in terror.

"How can you be laughing? Hellboy is supposed to be an urban myth, something you see in the National Enquirer!"

"He's also my dad." Marissa snapped.

"And I'm laughing because I love how you guys reacted!" Mina stated, waving her hand in the air casually. (In the background, Magenta shifted back into her human form where she was sprawled awkwardly across Zack's lap, and slapped him across the face when he grinned down at her. This sent Mina into another fit of laughter.)

"How is that possible? How can Hellboy be your dad?" Will asked, staring at Marissa in disbelief. Warren clapped his hand down on Will's shoulder.

"I can answer that," he began, holding his hand up to stop Marissa who had been about to say something, and then turned to Will. "You see Will, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

"Not like that!" Will yelled. (Mina is still laughing, but she has now fallen off of the back of the couch, where she was sitting. A small 'thump!' is heard with a mumbled 'ow' and hardly a seconds' pause before she starts laughing again.)

"Sheesh, no need to get snappy."

"Seriously though, how did that happen?" Zack asked, rubbing his cheek where Magenta has slapped him.

"I tried to explain it, but Will apparently isn't ready for the talk about the birds and the bees," Warren shrugged. (Mina's feet are seen on the back of the couch shaking slightly, and her laughter can still be heard.)

"This really isn't getting anywhere." Speed sighed, leaning back on the couch and rubbing his face. Lash reached over the table and grabbed a cup of water, stretching his arm in the process, and extended it far enough to dump the water on top of Frankie and Layla, waking them both. When they shot up with a cry of surprise and indignation, Mina started laughing even louder.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and sat in silence, listening to Mina's hysterical fit of laughter. Her feet had now disappeared from the back of the couch, and everyone either leaned over the couch or stood up a little bit to try and see her on the floor, where she was curled into the fetal position and clutching her stomach, laughing so hard she was practically crying.

"Will you quit that!?" Everyone looked at Marissa in surprise, since she was the last person they would expect to snap at Mina. Mina slowly stopped laughing and sat up, a huge grin on her face and her cheeks red.

"Sorry," she breathed heavily, still giggling slightly. "Couldn't help it."

"You never can," Marissa declared. There was a pause before Mina suddenly mumbled:

"Oh, shit..."

"What?" Marissa quirked an eyebrow, and everyone stared with rapt attention at the exchange going on in front of them.

"I just realized something."

"What?"

"That thing about your dad?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"That's one of the thing's that we're not supposed to tell them."

"...Oh, shit..."

"That's what just I said!"

"We are in so much trouble when Manning finds out."

"Wait, I thought that old fart retired?"

"Where the heck did you hear that?"

"Some dudes in the break room."

"You're drawing conclusions based off of water cooler talk?"

"...Uh... Yeah?"

"**What are you guys talking about**!?" Both girls looked up from their rambling conversation at a very frustrated looking Will. Marissa and Mina shared a look before shrugging and answering in unison:

"Nothing, really."

"You just said that you're going to be in trouble with somebody" Frankie pointed out.

"Frankie, don't worry your pretty little head about it. I can take care of it," Mina waved her hand casually before smirking and gesturing to herself. "The guy is on the verge of an emotional breakdown, just so you know, so I can handle it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy."


	39. Well Now, Isn't THIS Interesting?

_**Chapter Thirty-Eight**_

* * *

"_**You did**** what?**_" The scream of horror echoed throughout the second underground location of Sector 51, making everyone in the premises stop and look around in a sad attempt to figure our the origin of the noise.

In the library, an elderly man was staring in terror at Mina who was recoiled in surprise.

"Told ya' he'd freak out," Marissa called over the back of the couch, not looking up from her Mad Science homework.

"How could you **do** this?" The man whined, pacing back and forth. "You're supposed to be the responsible one! **She's** supposed to be reckless!" He cried, whipping out his arm and pointing at Marissa's hunched over form.

"Huh?" She sat up and looked over at him, an eyebrow quirked.

"Forget it. Just... just forget it," he sighed, waving his arm at her. She paused for a moment before shrugging and returning to her homework.

"Manning, just relax." Mina said softly, gesturing for him to calm down. "Remember the breathing techniques that I taught you. Breathe in deeply... and then out. In... and out..." Manning went along with her motions until he was calm, and then reached up to massage his forehead.

"Wizard, this isn't good," Manning began, using her codename. "This isn't good at all."

"Manning, **chillax**," she began, gesturing for him to calm down again. "I've got it covered."

"Oh, really?" He cried, obviously distressed. "How? How do you have this covered?"

"Well, I've been working on this new spell-"

"No! No spells!" Manning cut her off, waving his arms in the air. "Y-you could give them a-a-a multiple personality disorder, or-or erase their memories completely!"

"Manning, the spell is only a last resort! We can trust them," she told him.

"How he heck do you know?" He yelled again. She smirked in response and tapped her temple, making him roll his eyes. "Right, your freaky emotion-sensing-thing."

"It's called **empathy**," Mina stressed. Manning sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"What I don't understand is - why tell those other kids? Why not just those two brats the U.S.C.S.A. wanted you to babysit for them?"

"Those guys were my idea," Marissa called over the back of the couch, still not looking up from her homework. Manning was quiet for a moment before lifting his hand in the air and opening his mouth, and then he stood there like that for another second or two, his expression confused.

"You decided to tell a bunch of kids that were in no way, shape, or form involved with your current assignment?"

"Yep." Marissa responded, her eyes glued to her worksheet. Manning was silent before he sighed and shook his head, just brushing past Mina and walking out of the library without another word.

* * *

Marissa breathed deeply next to her mother and outstretched her arms, her actions in sync with her mother.

"So, about this Warren boy," she began, and Marissa snickered and rolled her eyes.

"Mom-"

"A mother has a right to ask these things." Liz stated firmly, before softening her features and continuing with her movements. "Now, what's he like?"

"Mom-" Marissa breathed, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"Just answer the question." Marissa sighed, stopping in her movements and standing up straight, fidgeting nervously. Liz stopped as well and crossed her arms, eying her daughter in amusement. Marissa was silent for a moment before walking over to a oddly shaped block in the training room and sat down. A few feet away, Hellboy was doing target practice with a picture of manning. Liz sat down next to Marissa and put a hand on her back.

"He's quiet," she started after awhile. "And he likes reading. He generates and controls fire, just like us-" Marissa gestured between herself and her mother. She breathed deeply and smiled softly after a few moments. "He doesn't like being around a lot of people, so he tries to stick to the background during school. But when we're alone..." she drifted off and shifted nervously. "...He kind of... he starts talking more, and he smiles a lot. He has a beautiful smile..." Marissa drifted off and blushed, and Hellboy scoffed a few feet away.

"He's a know-it-all, babe," he stated, dropping his arm and turning around to face the two women. "Critisizing my parenting methods..." he grumbled turning back around.

"He kind of had a right to, daddy!" Marissa called over, making Hellboy sigh.

"Well, sweetie, there's only one thing that you need to remember," Liz started, holding up one finger in the air. "Whatever happens, **do not lose control**, alright?" Marissa was quiet for a few moments before nodding.

"Alright, mom. I'll make sure."

* * *

Mina was studying in the library a day or two after telling everyone - and arguing with Manning - about their 'jobs', when two men in suits walked into the library with a B.P.R.D. agent in a suit trailing after them. Mina was seated at the desk, looking very small in her large, comfy chair, when the two men walked up to her and immediately set down a briefcase in front of her, directly on top of her textbook. She looked up slowly and sighed, closing her notebook and leaning back in her chair.

"MacArthur, Price, how wonderful to see you again," she responded to their arrival sarcastically.

"Where's Bruttenholm?" The man on the left grunted. Mina stared at him silently for a few moments before leaning to her side and looking at the B.P.R.D. agent standing in the back.

"Doug, go take a break. I can handle it from here." The agent sighed and turned around, rushing out of the library. Mina waited until the door closed behind him before facing the two agents again. "She's training. What do need, a status report on the boys?" The agent on the right shook his head.

"No. Actually, we've found some information on your charges that you might find to be of great significance." Mina leaned back in her chair and steeped her fingers, looking like Mr. Burns from _The Simpsons_.

"That depends. You and I have different views on what is and is not significant."

"You **will** find this important." MacArthur grunted, opening the briefcase and pulling out two manila folders, dropping them in front of her. Mina eyed the folders and then the agents before leaning forward slowly and opening them. She hardly glanced at the front pages before her eyes widened in shock.

"No way," she breathed out quietly. She then looked up at them in surprise. "This isn't possible, these can't be real." Price shook his head again.

"Trust us. These files are very, very real." Mina dropped her elbow on the desk and buried her hand in her hair.

"I can hardly believe this..." she drifted off. "How on **earth** could they keep this information a secret, and for **this** long?"

"Apparently they found someone before high school started to do this for them. What we want to know is who could break into permanent records and change this much without ever being caught."

"How did you even **find** these?" Mina looked up at them, her expression still one of disbelief.

"We've been doing digging on them ever since the beginning of your assignment, just to see if we could find anything to help you, or shorten your assignment. We found this." Mina shook her head and sighed.

"What do you expect me to do with these?" She sighed, looking up at them.

"That's for you to decide." Price stated before turning around in sync with MacArthur, taking the now empty briefcase with him and leaving the files on her desk. The two walked out, brushing past Marissa as she walked into the library. Marissa paused at the door and watched them leave, her damp hair falling into her face. She readjusted the towel that she had wrapped around her neck before turning and walking towards Mina.

"Hey, just got out of the shower," she explained, stopping in front of her desk and tilting her head to the side. "What'cha got there?"

"Lash and Speed's original files - from before high school."

"Are you serious?" Marissa gasped, leaning over and trying to grab the files out of Mina's hands, but she pulled them away.

"Apparently, they had someone change their names, and give them entirely different background information. Wow..."

"What?" Marissa was practically jumping up and down with antipation.

"Before high school... both of them had entirely clean slate," Mina made a confused expression and reached up to scratch her head.

"Meaning...? C'mon Mina, don't leave me hangin' here!"

"Besides a few tardy slips, these guys were little angels!" Mina looked up at her in disbelief before looking back down at their files. "AB Honor Roll every year, but that started slipping around seventh and eighth grade... And teacher commentary up until that point says that throughout elementary school they were exemplary children, always working hard in their classes, **protecting** kids from bullies-"

"Okay, these files are complete B.S." Marissa stated, folding her arms and glaring at the yellow folders.

"Apparently around the beginning of seventh grade, they slowly seemed to care less and less... **whoa**."

"What? What, what, what?" Marissa started jumping up and down again.

"Two weeks before the end of eighth grade, they stopped caring altogether. They didn't do any work, they pushed kids on the playground who used to look up to them, they stole lunch money... and then at the end of the year, this folder became obsolete."

"What's **that** supposed to mean?" Marissa whined.

"It **means**, that somebody made new files in the places of these, and pushed these so far back into school memory that no one could find them until now."

"What not just delete them?" Marissa asked, leaning on Mina's desk.

"You can't delete school files, they're just filed away somewhere else until those students have graduated, then they're sent to the A.S.P.C.A. for hero-sidekick evaluation. These were stuffed somewhere where **no one** was supposed to find them."

"Why stow these away? What is so bad about these files that they would be replaced? They're goody-two-shoes reputation up until the end of eighth grade?" Mina looked back to the files and flipped to the front page of one of the files.

"Speed's information is exactly the same as the one currently in the Sky High student database. All that he had changed was his first and middle name." Mina squinted at it and smiled. "His **real** full name is Spencer Alexander Markam." Mina paused and pursed her lips. "He must have had it changed as a way of going along with Lash."

"So, what's Lash's real deal?" Marissa laughed. "I can't wait to hear this..." She drifted off, turning around and proceeding to rub her hair with the towel around her neck some more. She quirked an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at Mina. "What's up?" She asked upon seeing Mina's devastated expression.

"He-he-he..." She stuttered, tapping the first page of Lash's file in a jittery manner.

"What is it? Spit it out!" Marissa turned on her side, her hand still poised next to her head with the towel pressed against it.

"Lash's file..." She began slowly, staring at Marissa in shock before looking down at it and setting it on her desk. She leaned her elbows on either side of it and held her head in them, burying her hands in her hair in shock and distress. "His file is completely altered from his current one. His address and phone number? Yeah, those were changed into an address and phone number that **doesn't even exist**."

"Okay, how did that work?" Marissa asked, draping the towel over her shoulder and waving her hand casually in the air.

"He must have gotten a separate phone and made a fake voice message, so whenever someone from then school called they thought they were getting his house. And as for the address... Sky High doesn't send out mail, so it's essentially obsolete."

"Alright, so what about the rest of it?" Marissa faced away from the desk again, leaning against it with her back and her hands shoved into the pockets of her sweatpants.

"His name is changed entirely. Nothing in common with his real name. All relatives? People who don't even exist." Mina started hyperventilating, grabbing her chest and trying to breathe slowly.

"So, what's the deal?" Marissa turned around slowly and eyed her friend nervously. "Mina, what's going on?" Mina was practically shaking with shock as she looked up at Marissa.

"His real name..." she began slowly. "Is **Jacob**. **Reid. Storm**. **Richards**." Marissa stared at Mina before she seemed to begin thinking and then her eyes widened in shock and horror.

"No way," Marissa breathed, slowly standing up straight. "No. Fucking. Way." Her eyes wide in shock. "Is he...?" She breathed out quietly. Mina swallowed nervously.

"Father..." She breathed slowly, "...Reid Richards."

"Holy shit..." Marissa gasped, becoming rigid.

"Mother..." Mina paused to breathe deeply, "...Susan Storm."

"Holy **shit** on a **stick**..." Marissa groaned, leaning her head back and covering her face with her hands.

"Uncle..." Mina also leaned back and reached up, gripping the sides of her head with her hands, "Jonathan Storm."

"Holy **shit** on a **stick** of **fire**..." Marissa began pacing.

"Godfather, and emergency contact in case parents and/or uncle are unavailable..." Marissa braced herself and Mina squeezed her eyes shut after reading it to herself, "...Benjamin Grimm." Both girls were silent and then Mina stood up and began to pace. Marissa stared at her with wide eyes.

"Your boyfriend..." Marissa began slowly, pointing at Mina with a shaky hand.

"I know." Mina groaned, running her hands through her hair.

"Your boyfriend is..." Marissa repeated, almost in disbelief.

"I **know**." Mina whined again.

"Your boyfriend is the son of... of..." Marissa hesitated in shock and incredulity.

"I **know**, Marissa." Mina groaned, falling back into her chair.

"Your boyfriend - the guy that **the government** is making us **babysit** because of an act of **super villainy** - is the **son** of **Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman**!" Marissa cried out. "What the hell?" She yelled, now pacing herself.

"He most likely didn't want his parents to know that he was a bully and an asshole," Mina started quickly, seemingly trying to convince herself. "I mean, they're two of the most well-known superheroes in the world. He didn't want them stopping him, probably."

"What the hell... **What** the hell... What the **hell**..." Marissa mumbled over and over again before stopping abruptly and looking at Mina in distress. "What I don't get is how the hell did you not know this? You've made **frequent** physical contact with him, you have had **hours** of opportunity to get this information-"

"I don't like reading into his personal life unless absolutely necessary!" Mina responded, obviously distressed.

"He's **directly related** to **three** out of **four** members of one of the most **widely-renowned** superhero teams in the world! And the last one is his freaking **godfather**!" Marissa cried out, throwing her arms in the air. "Explain to me how that isn't 'absolutely necessary', because I would like to understand that!" Mina groaned and fell back into her chair. "Besides - you **are** his personal life!" Mina groaned quietly, obviously having lost a lot of energy, and let her head fall back into her chair. Marissa quieted down and collapsed onto the couch. "So... what're we gonna' do with this?" Mina sighed in response.

"Dunno'," she sighed. "I really have no idea..."

* * *

OOOOOOHHH... XD I'm evil, aren't I?


	40. Author's Notice

Alright, my beloved readers! I understand the frustration that some of you must be experiencing due to my lack of story updates in... well... months. But I'm going to B.S. one of the oldest excuses in the book!

Writer's Block.

Yes, everyone! I have fallen prey to the dreaded thing that is WRITER'S BLOCK. It's like, before this I had so many PLOT BUNNIES I needed a metaphorical hunting rifle.

But I have organized MOST of them. I know what I want to do with the story, where I'm going, how I'm going to end it - EVERYTHING along those lines.

Now, some of you are probably asking: "But, Mina, if you have all of that stuff figured out, then why haven't you updated? Why do you say you have Writer's Block?"

Well, as some of you, my faithful and wonderful readers have read, I ended my last chapter with Mina (IE: My avatar) lamenting as to how she would handle the "shocking" information about Lash. Now, here's where my Writer's Block comes in: I don't know how I should go about doing this.

How exactly should Mina/I confront the formerly-dastardly duo? Should she/I:

1) Do it immediately, walking up to them angrily in the hallway?

2) Dance around the subject, trying to get them to admit it to me themselves, so that I don't have to go crazy-short-blonde-girl on their asses?

3) Or some other way?

And so, wonderful readers... Help me? Please? _

----------

And if you also wondering why it's taken me this long to notify you guys about my Writer's Block, here's my other B.S.'d excuse:

I've just been way to lazy. And busy. Either one. It's my last year of high school, and I can only fight back my senioritis long enough to get my work done for all of my tough classes, which are this semester. Don't worry, next semester all of my classes are the easy ones, and I'll be SCOT-FREE!!! Unfortunately, I've also received my acceptence letter from WCU, which is where I intend to go to college. At least, unfortunately for YOU.

For all seniors, the first acceptance letter comes with the dreaded... SENIORITIS. My laziness with explode forth from me TENFOLD. I'll probably be sleeping through most of my classes, anyway.

But, whatever... Scratch my back, and I'll do my BEST to scratch yours. M'kay?

Thanks, bye! ^_^


	41. Advice at the Crossroads

_**Chapter 39

* * *

**_

Mina was wearing her pajamas and sprawled across her bedspread on her stomach, one leg in the air kicking slowly back and forth. She was sitting up on her elbows, her face balanced in the palm of her left hand, her eyes gazing down at an item that she had clutched in her right.

An amulet. It's shape was circular, and the outer rim of it was hematite. The inside that wasn't obstructed by the symbol was silver, and the symbol was what appeared to be sapphire. The symbol in the center was three masks, one in the center, and one on each side of that, facing in that direction. The one on the left facing left, the one of the right facing right.

Her eyes eyes were glazed over and contemplative as she stroked it with her thumb slowly. A soft knock at her door made her jump in surprise and roll onto her back to face Marissa who was standing at the door.

"What's up?" Marissa asked, before glancing down at what Mina had in her hand. Her gaze immediately went from shock to worry. "Oh, Mina, no - "

"You don't know her, Marissa." Mina immediately cut her off, her gaze turning back to the item, her expression still contemplative. "You don't know what she's like."

"But my dad does," Marissa took a few steps into Mina's room and sat down on the edge of her bed, and Mina sat up to face her friend better. "Mina, you haven't put that thing on in months. She's probably ticked by now, as nice as you say she is. If you talk to her, then she'll have no idea when you'll put it on again, and then she'll try something. You know what she's capable of." Mina didn't move for a moment, before she nodded slowly. "...You're still going to try it?" Mina pursed her lips together, and Marissa sighed. "Just... be careful. Although you may be protected from him when you're wearing it, you're vulnerable to her."

"Marissa," Mina began to say slowly. She lifted her gaze to Marissa. "She's a lot nicer than you give her credit for. Your dad only met one side of her - she has three." Marissa sighed, but nodded. She patted her friend's leg gently before standing up and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. Mina stared at the door before she stood and crawled under her covers. She sat there, leaning against her headboard for a moment and stared at the amulet for a little while longer, before lifting it and carefully dropping the rope around her neck, letting the circle fall against her chest. She shifted her position to where she was lying down, and reached over to the lamp on her bedside table, turning it off. She laid there, in the glow of the LCD screen on her clock. She flopped onto her other side and closed her eyes, drifting off into sleep. And as her breathing evened, the masks on her amulet started to glow faintly...

* * *

Mina opened her eyes when she shivered, and looked around. She shivered again when she saw that she was surrounded by darkness in the middle of woods. However, she was on a wide footpath. She looked around and then surveyed her clothing. A knee length maiden's dress, like from Greek mythology. She was barefoot, and wiggled her toes in the dust of the path. She lifted her head and tossed her hair, which was down and wavy, since it was unstraightened.

"Au naturale..." she murmured to herself before she started walking. After a few minutes, she stopped at a crossroads. a flame burned at the intersection, and she sighed, walking over and taking a seat beside it. She looked around, tossing her hair out of her eyes. She took a deep, shaky breath. "Hecate!" She called out, shifting nervously. "I need your guidance!" She shifted nervously for a few moments, before reaching into the front of her dress and pulling out the amulet. She dropped it against her chest and looked around once more. "...Hecate?" Her voice was barely a whisper, as a breeze came past, almost as if it was carrying her quiet plea elsewhere. She jumped and lunged to her feat when she heard a sound in the woods nearby. She let out a deep sigh of relief when a large black dog stepped into the light of the flames. "Hello, Hekabe," she smiled at it. "If you don't mind my asking, where's your mistress?" The dog took a few steps closer to the flames before sitting down and staring at her. Mina sighed and sat down again. "I guess I need to wait, huh?" The dog made a noise and laid down, resting its head on its paws. "Let me guess - it's December. She must be with Persephone?" The dog made a noise again.

"Not anymore," Mina jumped to her feet and whirled around to face the speaker. A tall woman stood there, easily reaching eight or nine feet. Her hair was also very wavy, but jet black. Her skin was ghostly pale, and her eyes shined in the light of the torch she carried in one hand. Her black maiden-dress, like the one Mina was wearing moved gently in an invisible breeze, and her silver bracelets and rings moved against each other, but made no sound. "She's sleeping," she slowly smiled, exposing straight rows of pearly white teeth. Mina pursed her lips together, slightly envious of such a perfect smile. "It's been a long time, Mina," she greeted, breezing past her and sitting down next to Hekabe. She gently placed one hand on the dog's head and scratched her ears, before frowning slightly. "I feel like I should be offended when you only want to see me when you need something."

"What can I say? I'm mortal." Hecate chuckled in response.

"That is correct. Now, how can I help you? Now, I can't guarantee that I will..." Mina sat down slowly and sighed.

"I need your advice - "

"You got a boyfriend. He used to be evil, but using one of my gifts, you changed that. Now, you found out some secrets that he kept from you that you didn't see for yourself because you wanted to respect his privacy. You want to confront him about it, but you don't know how," she looked at Mina's stunned expression and smiled, reaching up at tapping one of her temples.

"Right - foresight. See into the future and other worlds and all of that stuff. Gotcha," Mina sighed and slouched. "So... What should I do?" Hecate shrugged.

"You said so yourself - you're mortal. I can't meddle in your affairs."

"You help your followers all of the time!"

Hecate quirked an eyebrow. "You converted that one girl to Christianity."

"She needed a Christian God." Mina stated, bluntly. "A kind, forgiving, all-loving God. My God."

"I shouldn't accept you as one of my own, if you keep playing both sides of the field. After all, how can you worship a Christian God and a Pagan God at the same time?"

"I don't worship you, Hecate."

Hecate pouted. "You use my gifts."

"Not all of them."

"You never accepted them. Don't you want my sight?"

Mina sighed. "There's no fun in life when you can see the future. When you can see what's going to happen."

"What about the present?" Hecate waved one of her slender hands elegantly in the air. "See things that are happening elsewhere?" Mina huffed, and Hecate laughed. "Right. Of course. You don't want to pry into other people's lives. That's why you never read your boyfriend's mind to find out his 'secret' sooner."

"He's not my - "

"You want my advice on something besides the issue you came to see me about?" Hecate immediately became serious, and Mina shut up. "Get over your commitment issues. At the rate things are going with this boy, he's going to turn into something that he wasn't always. If he continues to change, then you will too, if you want things to work with him." Mina stared at the Goddess.

"Hecate, what have you seen?" The Goddess smiled secretively and lifted one finger to her lips. "Fine, fine. But can you at least give me a little bit of advice? Something to do with my problem at hand?"

"You're clever. Trick him," Mina's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, don't look so shocked. You already have an idea unfolding in your mind. I can see it. You know..." Hecate drifted off slowly. "You could see it too. You could find everything that you seek," Mina's eyes drifted elsewhere. "Mina, I want to grant you my favors. You just won't accept them because of your true God." Mina nodded and Hecate sighed, stroking Hekabe's ears. "Mina, that's all I can do to help you. However, if you ever want any more help, well then... you know how to find me." Mina looked back up at the Goddess and smiled.

"Thank you, Hecate."

"Anything for my favorite mortal," the Goddess of the Crossroads winked at her and vanished, the dog disappearing with her. Mina sat by the fire for a few moments before she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, the trifecta of masks glowing on her amulet.

* * *

Mina jumped awake, looking around at her bedroom and then back down at her pajamas. She yawned and removed the necklace, placing it next to the clock on her bedside table, and then drifted back into a peaceful sleep.


	42. Questions, Questions

_**Chapter 40

* * *

**_

Thank you so much to Miss-Paparella for her idea!

* * *

Lash yawned as he stood by the bus, his shoulders slouched. Speed appeared moments after his yawn, his rubber soles leaving skid marks a few feet away from where he stopped.

"What's up, man?" He looked up and down the street for the bus as he greeted his friend.

"Hey, buddy," Lash yawned again. "Nothin' much, just tired. You?"

Speed shrugged as the bus trundled around the corner. "Man, I don't know about you, but I have a feeling something's gonna happen today."

"Weird," Lash quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "I've got the same feeling." They stared at each other as the bus slowed to a stop in front of them.

* * *

Mina rocked on her heels next to Lash's locker, surveying the halls for him. She readjusted the shoulder strap on her messenger bag and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. Lash and Speed eventually appeared around the corner, walking at a leisurely pace. They were laughing about something, until Lash looked up and spotted her. Mina smiled and waved, secretly lowering her mental wall and stretching out her mind to brush against his energy, to sense his emotions. She was surprised when she felt a momentary elation, before it quickly subsided.

"Hi," he greeted her, leaning against his locker and smiling down at her.

"Lash, I need to ask you something really important," she immediately stated, slouching her shoulders and pouting slightly at him.

He smirked. "Shoot."

"Well I was thinking about some stuff last night, and... well..." she chewed on her lip for a moment, flickering her gaze to his eyes. "What are we?" Lash didn't bother hiding his confusion.

"Huh?"

"I would say that we've been on two dates, but neither one can hardly be called that, you've bought me coffee, we've skipped class to make out in an empty classroom... So... What does that make us? Where do you stand with... this?" She gestured between the two of them, looking at him with her brow furrowed and her lips turned down in a small frown.

Lash also frowned in deep thought, and spoke after a moment. "You're the mind reader, you tell me."

"I don't like to pry into people's minds unless it's absolutely necessary - and even then, I can only do so through physical contact," Lash chuckled at this.

"A considerate mind reader - who knew they existed?" He rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he spoke the rhetorical question.

"You realize that you're dodging the question?" Lash looked back down at her and quirked his eyebrow.

"What was the question again?"

"Where do we stand, relationship-wise?" She crossed her arms and leaned against the locker beside his, mirroring his stance. "Are we boyfriend and girlfriend, friends with benefits, what?" Mina's lips were set in a straight line and Lash smirked at her, but it slowly faded.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" She quirked one her eyebrows. Lash opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated.

"What do you think we should be?" Mina scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"How the hell should I know? You freaking killed me, and yet I've still agreed to go out on dates with you, and I've even made out with you in a vacant classroom. I'm confused as hell about this,-" she moved one arm to gesture between them before folding it back, "- so I doubt I should be the one to decide. At least, tell me what you think, and then we might be able to agree on something."

Lash furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "You're very straight-forward," he observed.

"Thank you!" She chirped, smiling. "I've been working on it for years." Her expression immediately straightened out. "Now, seriously Lash, answer the question."

Lash shifted nervously under her intense gaze and looked between her and the ceiling, thinking deeply. He sighed, and even huffed once to toss his hair out of his face. He looked back down at her and then smiled a little bit. "I think I'd like to call you my girlfriend."

Mina couldn't disguise her surprise. "Wow, really?" Lash chuckled and reached out, brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Yeah, really."

Mina twisted her lips into a contemplative expression and then stepped closer to him. "Y'know... I think I'd like to call you my boyfriend. Despite what happened-"

"How long are you going to hold that over my head?" He chuckled, moving his arms to wrap them around her waist and pull her against his chest. She smiled up at him.

"A long time, probably," she responded, reaching up and brushing his hair out of his eyes, letting her fingertips linger against his forehead. Lash suddenly sighed and his eyes glazed over, then drifting shut and he moved his head to where her hand was pressed against his cheek.

"I like that..." he breathed out, slowly opening his glassy eyes. Her eyes widened in surprise and she snatched her hand back, making him jump slightly in surprise, snapping back to reality. "What?"

"I shouldn't do that," she worried, tapping her fingers against his chest. "It's dangerous when I do that."

"Why?"

"Because you might become addicted to that feeling, that temporary high," she pursed her lips together and looked up at him. "You'll turn into a needy little puppy dog, and then you'll start to annoy me, and it won't be good."

Lash shrugged. "Alright, then." Mina screwed her lips again and he tilted his head a little bit. "There's something else bothering you," he stated. Mina shifted in his arms and then looked up at him, pouting a little bit.

"Lash... can I meet your parents?"


End file.
